[tbb-dev] reconsider shipping uBO or enabling ETP?

[Justin Tracey]

On 2020-07-09 10:01 a.m., Matthew Finkel wrote:
> For research topics, I would suggest investigating the performance
> benefits of additional configurations in uBO and Tracking Protection, as
> well as the privacy and security implications of the filter lists and
> how they are updated. When we have answers for more of these questions,
> then we can begin assessing what should be deployed in Tor Browser.

I'll point out that I tried bringing up some of the fingerprinting
potential with the current filter list strategy on uBO's issue tracker,
and the response was not particularly receptive.[0] To their credit,
Raymond Hill did say that he would consider it more if the "Tor people"
directly requested it be addressed (presumably meaning TPO employees?
I'm not sure). Even so, their claiming that these issues are the
responsibility of Tor or even Firefox developers wasn't super reassuring
w.r.t. engaging with broader research into other kinds of problems that
could arise in the future. I.e., if Tor Project took on integrating uBO,
it seems likely that they would be on the hook for properly integrating
and maintaining it w.r.t. a large range of problems. Which, maybe that
is a trade-off that's worth it, but it at least seems worth being aware of.

 - Justin

[0] https://github.com/uBlockOrigin/uBlock-issues/issues/1121