How to disable permission to read 'System Fonts' and 'Browser Plugin Details' in Chrome and Firefox

Question

Going to http://panopticlick.eff.org/ I can see that that Firefox and Chrome expose more about 'System Fonts' and 'Browser Plugin Details' than I prefer.

How can the permission of a web page to access these settings be disabled in Firefox and Chrome?

Answer 1

There are two questions but I am answering the font list question:

It is possible to disable Flash font enumeration using mms.cfg system wide configuration file. This file should be located in /etc/adobe/ directory if you are using Linux. Basically you just need to put the following line in the file:

DisableDeviceFontEnumeration = 1

See the Adobe Flash Player Administration Guide for more details.

With this setting Panopticlick and other sites can not get your font list via Flash.

Note that the font list is still available through Java if you have it installed. It is a good idea to get rid of Java anyway. If you use a couple of sites that require Java, use a different browser instance with a different user profile with Java enabled just for those sites.

Answer 2

Javascript has ability to check what plugins are installed, this is generally used to give a "install missing plugin" message if needed. If you want, you could disable plugins in the settings, and disable Javascript using an addon like Javascript Blacklist for Chrome, or Quick Java statusbar for Firefox.

Answer 3

Absolutely possible with Proxomitron.

Prox is like NoScript, HTTP LiveHeaders, RequestPolicy, CookieSafeguard, BetterPrivacy, and whatnot, all put into one program. It's not developed further, but still guarantees me privacy no other tool can do.

The Proxomitron is a universal web filter. Info from their site:

The Program

For those who have not yet been introduced, meet the Proxomitron: a free, highly flexible, user-configurable, small but very powerful, local HTTP web-filtering proxy. To become better acquainted, please see our online version of the Proxomitron Help files for a more comprehensive overview.

The current (and last) version of Proxomitron is Naoko 4.5, of which there were two releases, one in May of 2003 followed by one in June. Although very similar, there are distinct differences between the two which are not mentioned in either program's documentation. Both releases are available in the Files section. P.I's focus will be on the latest version -- the June release.

The Author

Scott R. Lemmon originally developed the Proxomitron for his own use. He then decided to release it to the public and made himself available to users via email and in several Proxomitron user-discussion groups. His support, like his program, was always free.

With the release of Naoko 4.5, Scott discontinued all further development and support of his program and pulled the official home of Proxomitron off the Web. We respected his decision to move on and wished him all the best -- which is, after all, what he consistently gave to us.

Sadly, one year later, Scott died -- but his brilliance of mind and spirit lives on. Simply put, Proxomitron is a reflection of its creator: To know Scott's program . . . is to know Scott Lemmon.

Check it out! There's a (somewhat) active community.

Answer 4

As of Firefox 17 you can enable 'click to play' which stops Java and Flash loading automatically. This in turn stops a lot (not all) info being discovered. For example, stopping Flash plugin prevents most fonts being discovered.

To enable 'click_to_play' in Firefox:

• got to 'about:config' in your address bar
• search for 'click_to_play'
• double click on the entry to toggle the value from 'false' to 'true'
• close the tab
• next time the plugin is required, you will get a prompt giving you the option to enable it