Privacy @lemmy.ml screaminginvoid @hexbear.net 1 wk. ago

Can I store some info in cookies but not the rest?

I have my browser setup to automatically delete cookies after the app is closed. I do this for privacy reasons. I would however like to store some cookie information, but not the rest. Example: Every time I start a new session I am forced to read DuckDuckGo's AI slop as the first result to my search query. I have to manually change site settings every new session and I don't like it. I know that I could allow certain sites to store cookies but I don't want to allow DuckDuckGo to store any other information. Is there any way I could save site settings in a static file that is reloaded every time I open my browser? I use both Chromium and Firefox on linux and android.

4 comments

I've not done it myself, but I'm pretty sure you can configure Cookie AutoDelete or similar extensions to block everything except specific cookies for any given domain. I don't think you could accomplish it with just a file saved locally, the browser isn't generally able to read local files without using an extension.
- The only problem with not deleting all cookies with some automatic tool is it will make it easier to fingerprint you. Anything difference with your browser's behaviour is fingerprintable.
  
  Also, check your this section from the Arkenfox wiki (made by experts on browser fingerprinting):
  
  🟪 DON'T BOTHER: Cookie extensions
  
  - ❗️Sanitizing in-session is a false sense of privacy. They do nothing for IP tracking. Even Tor Browser does not sanitize in-session e.g. when you request a new circuit. A new ID requires both full sanitizing and a new IP. The same applies to Firefox - ❗️Cookie extensions can lack APIs or implementation of them to properly sanitize: e.g. - ⚠️ [last checked Nov 2024], Cookie Auto Delete even instructs it's users to disable Total Cookie Protection - ⚠️ DO NOT DO THIS ⚠️ "As of Firefox 86, strict mode is not supported at this time due to missing APIs to handle the Total Cookie Protection [... followed by instructions]"
i do something like this on firefox and the container tabs feature.

i create a set of container tabs for websites that do tracking with cookies and only visit that website using its dedicated container so that it looks like i ONLY use my browser to go to ONLY go to that one website from the trackers perspective.

i also started using privacy badger and ghostery to give the tracker junk information to make all the data harvesting useless; but i don't know if it works yet.
Can you force the browser to send a cookie header to the DuckDuckGo website? I think there are plugins that add headers to specific websites.