{"id":8456,"date":"2022-11-24T14:24:36","date_gmt":"2022-11-24T19:24:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alt-fw.org\/public\/?p=8456"},"modified":"2022-11-25T13:35:29","modified_gmt":"2022-11-25T18:35:29","slug":"disabling-default-use-of-javascript-in-your-browser","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alt-fw.org\/public\/?p=8456","title":{"rendered":"Disabling default use of javascript in your browser"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Anytime we have something nice, some unscrupulous bad actor will come along and ruin it for everyone.<\/p>\n

Data Mining<\/h3>\n

Most recently as of the date of this writing, FaceBook<\/a> had been caught collecting very private financial data from our Federal and State Income Tax Returns<\/a> with the full knowledge and cooperation of Income Tax preparation corporations. TaxAct<\/a>, TaxSlayer<\/a>, and H&R Block<\/a> were exposed by data research reported in an November 22, 2022 08:00 ET article published by The Markup<\/a> by\u00a0Simon Fondrie-Teitler<\/a>,\u00a0Angie Waller<\/a>, and\u00a0Colin Lecher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Across these \u201cFree File\u201d vendors, FaceBook<\/a> collects everything needed to falsify tax returns<\/a>, or get names of child dependents to aide in targeting children by knowing their name, and their families\u2019 address, phone numbers, demographics, filing status (married, single parent, etc), Gross and Adjusted Gross incomes and the amount of their tax refund. Knowing someone is a 12 year old daughter of a single mother with a $2,000 refund at a specific home address and phone number might be very handy to the wrong person. Do you feel that the radical leftist actors at FaceBook<\/a> are the right, trustworthy, individuals to have and use your very private financial data or family information that would allow a pedophile to groom and kidnap your child, without your\u00a0 knowledge and consent?<\/p>\n

Drive By Downloads<\/h3>\n

Javascript is also needed for clandestine drive by downloads<\/a> – files downloaded, and potentially installed and run, without your knowledge or consent when you view a web page.<\/p>\n

This is a primary method of installing viruses, back doors,\u00a0 and other mal-ware on individuals’s computers. You search for information on a topic, browse to the web sites in the search results, and even through a web page didn’t seem to be relevant to your search – the page might even have appeared blank – it ran a javascript program in your browser to download and install a program that you did not authorize.<\/p>\n

Such mal-ware might merely flood your computer from then on with ads, or it could harvest private information from your computer and send it to the mafia in New York or China or Arabia, or encrypt your disk and demand ransom money to get your files back – you don’t know, and it will be difficult if not impossible to find and remove.<\/p>\n

But without javascript drive by downloads can’t automatically happen.<\/p>\n

Javascript<\/h3>\n

Javascript was invented to make our lives easier, to make cute little kitties walk across our computer screens or personalize website screen layout and menus to fit our computer, or automatically download the version of a file (Windows, Mac, Linux) that we can use. Anytime we have something nice, some unscrupulous bad actor will come along and ruin it for everyone.<\/p>\n

The ethical and privacy violations described at the start of this article are accomplished through javascript placed on the\u00a0 web site, with or without the knowledge of the web site owner. Without javascript the bad actor must persuade you to click something, such as a link or a button, to download their mal-ware file, and then to run their file and approve installing on your computer. If you are not expecting this you might be uncooperative and their purpose fails.<\/p>\n

The good news is this is easy to fix for Browsers based upon Google Chromium. The bad news is some other browsers make it impractical for daily use because they lack an fast, easy, way to turn javascript on with one to two clicks for web sites, such as your bank, that you know and trust: sites that truly need javascript to work.<\/p>\n

How to Turn Off Javascript in Chromium -based Browsers<\/h3>\n

In Chromium based browsers such as Google Chrome and Brave, click the menu icon (three horizontal lines) in the top right corner of your screen. In the search box type “java”. Scroll down to the bottom where you see Site and Shields Settings.<\/p>\n

Scroll down to see javascript and click so it reads “Don’t allow sites to use javascript”.<\/p>\n

\"edit <\/div> <\/div>
\"brave <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"brave <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

To turn javascript on when you need it<\/h4>\n

On Chromium based browsers there is an icon that appears at the far right end of the URL box when a web page wants to run javascript but your browser denied it. If you trust this page, then click that icon. For Chrome it is two <> for Brave it is a red lion.<\/p>\n