I use 4 privacy browsers (one of which is Brave)... None show Youtube commercials but all have Ublock Origin on them... LibreWolf, Brave, Waterfox, and Pale Moon (and rarely TOR, though for not the reasons you probable would use TOR). I also liked "UnGoogled Chromium" browser, but since it is like some of the others I didn't keep it. That said, use whatever browser you want, but you can use Invidious as a front end and also achieve the same results without Youtube charting your viewing patterns (and putting you on a government list).
https://redirect.invidious.io/
Pick the server you want (country etc)... some even allow downloads (French for example). I like to use them to download music (download the audio in MP4 or Webm format and use Freac program to convert to about 192kbit MP3).... You can convert to higher bitrate, but it is a joke to do so since Youtube does not offer quality above that threshold.
Also you can use Piped to do about the same thing (no commercials, but I don't think downloads are possible).
https://pi.ggtyler.dev/
Ping me if tried and liked them.
@corbe @roamer_1
I also have a paid VPN I use on occasion but remember VPNs can reduce download/upload speeds. So I stick to Invidious usually.
I have so many browsers cause I have them set up differently (privacy workings) and when one will not work (I have configured it basically over-toughened), the next browser probable might.
That's a whole lotta hoops
@Sighlass I don't do any of that. Just Firefox and the Ublock Origin addon, and I never see ads (make SURE it is 'Ublock Origin', not 'Ublock' or 'Origin', they're not the same ). I carry a script blocker onboard, also an add on, but it's normally disabled... But that's about it.
I DO use the three major browser strains - IE, Chrome, and Firefox, partly so I keep up with them (so I can fix them), but also to bifurcate information. I have to give the Devil his due, but I bust it up between browsers so it ain't all going to anyone.
LOOK, I have Office. I use Outlook. I have six Windows machines running right now. I use MS technet. Microsoft KNOWS who I am. It's unavoidable. Heck ALL my PIM goes through Microsoft. So I put on my microsoft hat and do my microsoft things with Edge.
Google. Google is in my hand all day long. Every phone and text is on an android, which is owned by Google. There is no way in heck to avoid ANYTHING, because your apps all phone home, as does the phone itself. So, when I put on my Google hat, I use Chrome.
But I surf with Firefox. It's my EDC, the one I actually use. The one I am on now.
If you are using electronics, you are being tracked, period. The very nature of networking tracks you. So if someone wants it bad enough (I mean FBI, CIA) it don't matter what onion you use. It don't matter which browser, because your presence at a site of interest is logged. Unavoidable because of the nature of networking.
But a feller can buy a laptop for cash off the back of a truck so it literally has no connection to you, set it up with a war drive that NEVER is used from anywhere but public access... if you are careful, THAT's anonymous. But don't keep it long, because you begin to form patterns with that box... Predictable. So you switch it out - all of it - alot. That's a ton of work to remain anonymous. And if you are anonymous how do people find YOU? People who know which forum to go to, which alias you use... It's complicated and kludgy. It can be done. I've done it. But what a total PIA.
But if you ain't doing all that or shutting it clean off, they already have you pegged. Yeah, you can Onion and TOR, VPN. But the problem is that one end of the wormhole is fixed - it's coming from YOUR HOUSE... So if you are doing anything nasty, just don't do it from home, or from a computer that has your regular info on it *at all, ever*.
Otherwise you ain't really stopping anything. Privacy means shutting it off.
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