Mastodawn

Rob Ricci Sep 7, 2023

Since I've seen a lot of chatter about people switching to #Firefox as Google ramps up the enshitification of #Chrome, let me tell you about a killer feature for people who (a) need multiple accounts on the same websites (eg. devs) or specifically (b) have to use multiple Google accounts.

Firefox has an official addon called Multi Account Containers that lets you trivially set up color coded tabs that have separate sets of cookies. Log into your dev account in one, and your test account in another. Log into your personal #gmail in one and have another tab next to it with your work Gmail. I'm actually not signed in to any Google accounts in most my tabs, I just have containers for the specific tasks I do on Google products.

It'll take you 30 seconds to set up.

Add-on: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/multi-account-containers/

Mozilla's explanation: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers

Firefox Multi-Account Containers – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download Firefox Multi-Account Containers for Firefox. Firefox Multi-Account Containers lets you keep parts of your online life separated into color-coded tabs. Cookies are separated by container, allowing you to use the web with multiple accounts and integrate Mozilla VPN for an extra layer of privacy.

Cassandrich Sep 7, 2023

@ricci I have containers in Firefox without adding any extension for it, though ..?

Patrick Mevzek Sep 7, 2023

@dalias @ricci AFAIR it was at some point bundled into Firefox, then it became an extension.

Cassandrich Sep 7, 2023

@pmevzek @ricci Uhg, does that mean upgrading is going to nuke my containers?

@dalias @ricci OR maybe I am confusing 2 things as the FAQ at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers says "Are Firefox containers and Multi-account containers the same? Firefox Containers and Multi-Account Containers are complementary features that help you keep your online activities organized. While both options allow you to separate your browsing into different container tabs, the Firefox Containers feature allows you to always open new tabs in containers."

Multi-Account Containers | Firefox Help

Add Container tabs to Firefox with the Multi-Account Containers add-on, to separate your work and personal browsing.

Cassandrich Sep 8, 2023

@pmevzek @ricci Multi-Account Containers sounds sketchy (integration with their VPN partner stuff) and like it does unwanted things (automatically switching to a container context based on which site you're loading, vs locking to a context and always opening links in that container context) that harm privacy instead of preserving it.

Cassandrich Sep 8, 2023

@pmevzek @ricci Regular container tabs tho are excellent and one of the best features of Firefox.

Patrick Mevzek Sep 8, 2023

@dalias @ricci I don't remember now why, but I had to install the extension, so anyway I live with it now. I do use the "automatically assign site X to container Y", avoids some errors, having a dozen or so containers. Anyway the logical followup would be not to have to do that and each tab/site in its own container by default, with only the possibility to "open it" to other sites/containers, but otherwise fully restricted by default.

Patrick Mevzek Sep 8, 2023

@dalias @ricci Yes the VPN stuff is garbage/shouldn't be there, but the other part can be useful and is purely locally handled.

@dalias @pmevzek @ricci

> automatically switching to a container context based on which site you're loading

That doesn’t happen by default, only if you explicitly assign the site to a container

Cassandrich Sep 8, 2023

@MildDrop72 @pmevzek @ricci Right, but if you don't want that it's unclear that there's any value over the built-in container functionality.

Patrick Mevzek Sep 8, 2023

@MildDrop72 @dalias @ricci Yes, you have to do it once, and then it is applied forever. Works as long as you can discriminate just based on the hostname.

viq Sep 9, 2023

@dalias
There's also an unofficial extension called Temporary Containers which can, if you configure it that way, open any new site in a brand new container that will get removed a few minutes after you close last tab from that container.
Yes, it can break spectacularly on sites that redirect between domains for authentication.
@pmevzek @ricci

d00b Sep 17, 2023

@viq @dalias @pmevzek @ricci

Yes, redirected auth can be a pain but it can be fixed by using the "always open this domain in the same container" feature and have the auth site open in the target site container.

Not the perfect isolation but good enough for most cases.

The only thing that still requires me to disable temp-containers is for using paypal. But then again, it's a simple disable-pay-enable.

Cassandrich Sep 17, 2023

@d00b @viq @pmevzek @ricci These temp containers sound like a more bad-site-breaking, worse-UX version of firstparty isolate and completely useless if you have the latter.

viq Sep 17, 2023

@dalias @d00b @pmevzek @ricci https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/first-party-isolation/ ?

First Party Isolation – Get this Extension for 🦊 Firefox (en-US)

Download First Party Isolation for Firefox. This add-on enables the First Party isolation pref. Clicking the Fishbowl icon temporarily disables it.

Cassandrich Sep 17, 2023

@viq @d00b @pmevzek @ricci You don't need the extension. It's in about:config

viq Sep 17, 2023

@dalias
Interesting, I'll need to have a look.
With temporary containers if you open a site say by first opening new tab and then going there, or by clicking from "somewhere else", you'll end up in a new container, whereas to my understanding with first party isolate it will be "same session". Both of which may or may not be desirable 🤷
@d00b @pmevzek @ricci

d00b Sep 18, 2023

@dalias @viq @pmevzek @ricci

Temp containers create a new session/tab every time I click on a URL whose base domain is different from the one in the address bar. First party isolation seems less restrictive (or not?).

viq Sep 18, 2023

@d00b @dalias @pmevzek @ricci
New container, yes.
But, say, you click on a link someone sent you in email, and you end up on reddit. And you click on a search result, and you end up on reddit. Do you want those two reddit tabs to share cookies etc, or not?
Different people have different answers for that. For *me*, for *most* of my browsing, the answer is "no". But that's not necessarily true for everyone.

d00b Sep 18, 2023

@viq @dalias @pmevzek @ricci

Same for me: the answer is almost always NO and that's the cool thing about temp containers: it defaults to NO while still giving me the ability to decide otherwise.

In the end, it's up to me to decide how trackable my sessions will be.