Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

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LostInTerminal
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Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by LostInTerminal »

I run Slimjet on several PCs W7, W10 and now Linux. One problem is that on the Linux machine I load the BBC website, go to a news article and it may or may not load the picture(s). If not I get a gray box. I'm asking on the Slimjet forum as well but have no replies yet. Is there a setting I need to tweak?
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Larry78723
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by Larry78723 »

Have you tried connecting to the same BBC page with another browser?
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newlyminted7
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

You might consider a different browser:
https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/slimjet.html
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by jackkileen »

LostInTerminal wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:29 am I run Slimjet on several PCs W7, W10 and now Linux. One problem is that on the Linux machine I load the BBC website, go to a news article and it may or may not load the picture(s). If not I get a gray box. I'm asking on the Slimjet forum as well but have no replies yet. Is there a setting I need to tweak?
Slimjet in Linux doesn't work on all Sites, not unlike Waterfox, Pale Moon and some other browsers. Sometimes you can get it to load pics, videos, message boards, etc. just by refreshing the page, sometimes not. I keep un-googled Chromium handy for those Sites. Slimjet does work on the majority of Sites I visit.

newlyminted7 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 12:17 pm You might consider a different browser:
https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/slimjet.html
Slimjet is configurable in the Settings to stop interaction with Google and from sending any info to Slimjet, etc.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

jackkileen wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:31 pm
newlyminted7 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 12:17 pm You might consider a different browser:
https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/slimjet.html
Slimjet is configurable in the Settings to stop interaction with Google and from sending any info to Slimjet, etc.
According to the site I linked above, that claim appears not to be true. Maybe they've changed things recently, but I personally wouldn't trust Slimjet. If in doubt, I'd install OpenSnitch and / or MITMproxy and watch what requests and connections Slimjet sends out to at least have some idea as to what is true. I tend to believe that neocities.org site, but who knows, maybe Slimjet has changed their ways...

I agree about using Ungoogled Chromium, and I'd use that as your main browser. Or, if you must view DRM video, I'd suggest using Firefox (which is spyware: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/firefox.html) but only after mitigating it's default spying and privacy-invading "features" (alhough it is getting harder and harder to do...) - see https://spyware.neocities.org/guides/firefox.html and https://codeberg.org/shadow/SpywareWatchdog/issues/58 for starters.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by Moonstone Man »

newlyminted7 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:54 pm Maybe they've changed things recently...
Or maybe your analytical skills aren't up to scratch.

The linked article makes no mention of the operating system in use, provides zero evidence that the claimed web requests are not due to a Windows application using the browser, provides zero evidence that the requests are not due to installed add-ons, provides no evidence that the browser was clean installed, mistakenly extrapolates the default bing search engine to Slimjet itself, and makes sundry other unsupported claims in nearly every single sentence. It's FUD through and through.

So, in the absence of all the evidence, in the absence of a cogent argument, and in the presence of innumerable unstated assumptions, a level-headed reader would have to dismiss it as a rant, perhaps a spiteful rant. The linked article doesn't pass the pub test.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

Kadaitcha Man wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:38 pm
newlyminted7 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:54 pm Maybe they've changed things recently...
Or maybe your analytical skills aren't up to scratch.
Maybe. But it doesn't look like it. The guy made a good case in my opinion.
Kadaitcha Man wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:38 pm The linked article makes no mention of the operating system in use, provides zero evidence that the claimed web requests are not due to a Windows application using the browser, provides zero evidence that the requests are not due to installed add-ons, provides no evidence that the browser was clean installed, mistakenly extrapolates the default bing search engine to Slimjet itself, and makes sundry other unsupported claims in nearly every single sentence. It's FUD through and through.
He's using something anyone can use and replicate (MITMproxy, etc). If it were FUD it would have been proven and commented on their Codeberg page, which you can go do if you'd like. Why don't you go do that, actually, Kadaitcha? Put your money where your mouth is for a change. Start an argument with that guy, I'm sure you'd enjoy that.
Kadaitcha Man wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:38 pm So, in the absence of all the evidence, in the absence of a cogent argument, and in the presence of innumerable unstated assumptions, a level-headed reader would have to dismiss it as a rant, perhaps a spiteful rant. The linked article doesn't pass the pub test.
The evidence is right there in his screenshots which you are free to replicate using the same software he is. I'm sure you'll find the same responses. I still don't trust Slimjet. But you are free to, Kadaitcha Man.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by AndyMH »

BBC news is my home page, never had any problems with chromium.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by Moonstone Man »

LostInTerminal wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 10:29 am Is there a setting I need to tweak?
No problem here and I'm on the opposite side of the planet.

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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by t42 »

Kadaitcha Man wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:38 pm It's FUD through and through.

So, in the absence of all the evidence, in the absence of a cogent argument, and in the presence of innumerable unstated assumptions, a level-headed reader would have to dismiss it as a rant, perhaps a spiteful rant. The linked article doesn't pass the pub test.
Thanks for this opinion about spyware.neocities.org site article on behalf of less level-headed readers. There are about fifteen unchallenged recommendations of that "Spyware Watchdog" website made by the same person on this forum. Spyware Watchdog's definition of spyware is: any browser communication with Google is a spyware. There is nothing on their pages about real spyware. It is interesting that current Spyware Watchdog owner has similar website dedicated to the 'Fake Pandemic' idea.

Browsers' security heavily depends on communication with Google and a browser home site and blocking such connections prevents update of revoked certificates and malicious websites lists. In the end, browser mutilation based on privacy obsession results in creating self-inflicting vulnerabilities.
-=t42=-
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

Insulting me isn't going to accomplish anything, but I guess that just reveals your character. Again, you can run those tests yourselves with open source software such as OpenSnitch, MITMproxy, and many others and test them if you doubt the claims of what those browsers are up to. Have a nice day.
LostInTerminal
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by LostInTerminal »

I'm going to go with some sites it just isn't happy with.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by Moonstone Man »

t42 wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 6:20 am Thanks for this opinion about spyware.neocities.org site article on behalf of less level-headed readers.
Someone has to do it :)

I don't like convincing myself of anything based on nothing but someone else's wild, unstated assumptions.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

Kadaitcha Man wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:24 am Someone has to do it :)

I don't like convincing myself of anything based on nothing but someone else's wild, unstated assumptions.
Run the same tests on Linux and it will confirm for you what that website says.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by jackkileen »

newlyminted7 wrote: Wed Aug 04, 2021 8:54 pm According to the site I linked above, that claim appears not to be true. Maybe they've changed things recently, but I personally wouldn't trust Slimjet. If in doubt, I'd install OpenSnitch and / or MITMproxy and watch what requests and connections Slimjet sends out to at least have some idea as to what is true. I tend to believe that neocities.org site, but who knows, maybe Slimjet has changed their ways...

I agree about using Ungoogled Chromium, and I'd use that as your main browser. Or, if you must view DRM video, I'd suggest using Firefox (which is spyware: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/firefox.html) but only after mitigating it's default spying and privacy-invading "features" (alhough it is getting harder and harder to do...) - see https://spyware.neocities.org/guides/firefox.html and https://codeberg.org/shadow/SpywareWatchdog/issues/58 for starters.
Well, I did install OpenSnitch to take a look and so far, nothing really unexpected. No calls to Google unless I open a page with Google ads on it or I open a search with Google as the search client. Some other calls to other ad connected sites but I believe that happens on a lot of Sites that have ads.
No calls to FlashPeak that I have seen so far either.

Looking at the link in your post, it states the below. Is that the same "list" for the browser reviews? It's a little difficult for me to "cipher" that Site as far when the reviews were generated.

"Browsers The tier list has been deprecated for a while now, and was kept only for historical purposes. Because the deprecated page keeps getting linked to, it will be removed."
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

jackkileen wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:43 pm Looking at the link in your post, it states the below. Is that the same "list" for the browser reviews? It's a little difficult for me to "cipher" that Site as far when the reviews were generated.

"Browsers The tier list has been deprecated for a while now, and was kept only for historical purposes. Because the deprecated page keeps getting linked to, it will be removed."
Right, which is why I suggested to do your own testing and provided the link to their Codeberg page to engage with them and question the validity of their findings if you'd like. I've no affiliation with them in any way.
jackkileen wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 3:43 pm Well, I did install OpenSnitch to take a look and so far, nothing really unexpected. No calls to Google unless I open a page with Google ads on it or I open a search with Google as the search client. Some other calls to other ad connected sites but I believe that happens on a lot of Sites that have ads.
No calls to FlashPeak that I have seen so far either.
Well, this is what I saw:
- When you first install it (clean install on Linux Mint 20.2, all default settings in the browser) and run it for the first time, it makes a request to www.slimjetbrowser.com (this is a request to Flashpeak).
- It then attempts to connect to a variety of Google services, including update.googleapis.com, clients2.google.com, accounts.google.com, translate.googleapis.com, which it then continues to make throughout the lifetime of the browser as you use it as long as it is installed. This is not dependent upon any page you may visit, this is the browser making these requests.
- If you use the default search engine, which is Bing, your requests actually go to fpseek.com.
- If you open a new tab and start typing in the URL field, it sends requests to bing.com as you type.

These findings are consistent with what the link I provided in my other post describes.

If you're okay with all of these connections being made on a regular basis, then go ahead and use it if that doesn't bother you, but these are not requests that non-spyware browsers should be making and you might consider educating yourself about software and user privacy. See UngoogledChromium to learn more about how a browser should behave, but even it's not perfect.

I'm just tryina help out here... I didn't realize trying to help someone on here would be so difficult, yikes. If you have any more issues, please go take it up with the guys who posted the article, it wasn't me. I just verified some of what they claimed as true, as anyone can easily do.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by jackkileen »

newlyminted7 wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 5:21 pm Well, this is what I saw:
- When you first install it (clean install on Linux Mint 20.2, all default settings in the browser) and run it for the first time, it makes a request to www.slimjetbrowser.com (this is a request to Flashpeak).
- It then attempts to connect to a variety of Google services, including update.googleapis.com, clients2.google.com, accounts.google.com, translate.googleapis.com, which it then continues to make throughout the lifetime of the browser as you use it as long as it is installed. This is not dependent upon any page you may visit, this is the browser making these requests.
- If you use the default search engine, which is Bing, your requests actually go to fpseek.com.
- If you open a new tab and start typing in the URL field, it sends requests to bing.com as you type.
If you're okay with all of these connections being made on a regular basis, then go ahead and use it if that doesn't bother you, but these are not requests that non-spyware browsers should be making and you might consider educating yourself about software and user privacy. See UngoogledChromium to learn more about how a browser should behave, but even it's not perfect.

I'm just tryina help out here... I didn't realize trying to help someone on here would be so difficult, yikes. If you have any more issues, please go take it up with the guys who posted the article, it wasn't me. I just verified some of what they claimed as true, as anyone can easily do.
I'm not, no one should be. But, as I stated, you can neuter all the above in Slimjet's Settings. :)
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

jackkileen wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 5:59 pm
newlyminted7 wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 5:21 pm Well, this is what I saw:
- When you first install it (clean install on Linux Mint 20.2, all default settings in the browser) and run it for the first time, it makes a request to www.slimjetbrowser.com (this is a request to Flashpeak).
- It then attempts to connect to a variety of Google services, including update.googleapis.com, clients2.google.com, accounts.google.com, translate.googleapis.com, which it then continues to make throughout the lifetime of the browser as you use it as long as it is installed. This is not dependent upon any page you may visit, this is the browser making these requests.
- If you use the default search engine, which is Bing, your requests actually go to fpseek.com.
- If you open a new tab and start typing in the URL field, it sends requests to bing.com as you type.
If you're okay with all of these connections being made on a regular basis, then go ahead and use it if that doesn't bother you, but these are not requests that non-spyware browsers should be making and you might consider educating yourself about software and user privacy. See UngoogledChromium to learn more about how a browser should behave, but even it's not perfect.

I'm just tryina help out here... I didn't realize trying to help someone on here would be so difficult, yikes. If you have any more issues, please go take it up with the guys who posted the article, it wasn't me. I just verified some of what they claimed as true, as anyone can easily do.
I'm not, no one should be. But, as I stated, you can neuter all the above in Slimjet's Settings. :)
You should be, but you can lead a horse to water... Go learn more about why the Ungoogled Chromium project exists and about general internet privacy, for starters. And, no, you can't change all the above in the settings, only the search engine. :)
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by jackkileen »

newlyminted7 wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:13 pm You should be, but you can lead a horse to water... Go learn more about why the Ungoogled Chromium project exists and about general internet privacy, for starters. And, no, you can't change all the above in the settings, only the search engine. :)
Sure you can, did you go through all the Settings to try?

Settings Options...
1. Nuke all the search engines/options you don't want including Slimjet, Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc.
2. Disable Google sync.
3. Disable payment methods (including Google Pay).
4. Enable Block Google ads on third-party websites.
5. Disable Help improve security on the web for everyone.
6. Don't allow Sites to continue sending and receiving date after closing.
7. Turn off... Make searches and browsing better.
8. Turn off... Allow Slimjet sign-in.
9. Don't turn on... Sync and personalize Slimjet across your devices.
10. Don't turn on... View and manage saved passwords in your google account.
11. Don't check if your passwords are safe from data breaches and other security issues, (sign in to Slimjet).

There are a few more but definitely more than just changing search engines.
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Re: Slimjet, Cinnamon Mint & BBC website

Post by newlyminted7 »

jackkileen wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 7:04 pm
newlyminted7 wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 6:13 pm You should be, but you can lead a horse to water... Go learn more about why the Ungoogled Chromium project exists and about general internet privacy, for starters. And, no, you can't change all the above in the settings, only the search engine. :)
Sure you can, did you go through all the Settings to try?

Settings Options...
1. Nuke all the search engines/options you don't want including Slimjet, Bing, Google, Yahoo, etc.
2. Disable Google sync.
3. Disable payment methods (including Google Pay).
4. Enable Block Google ads on third-party websites.
5. Disable Help improve security on the web for everyone.
6. Don't allow Sites to continue sending and receiving date after closing.
7. Turn off... Make searches and browsing better.
8. Turn off... Allow Slimjet sign-in.
9. Don't turn on... Sync and personalize Slimjet across your devices.
10. Don't turn on... View and manage saved passwords in your google account.
11. Don't check if your passwords are safe from data breaches and other security issues, (sign in to Slimjet).

There are a few more but definitely more than just changing search engines.
No, unfortunately, changing those settings doesn't actually have any influence on the requests that the page I linked to talks about (and what I verified, as anyone can). This is the problem with Chrome and Chrome-derived browsers, the Chrome engine still makes these requests. Again, why do you think Ungoogled Chromium was created? Because it isn't this easy to turn off those unscrupulous requests - they had to create a wholly separate browser, a fork of the codebase and turn these requests off in the code, not in the browser's "settings". And, by the way, even after you turn all those settings off, it still continues to make unsolicited requests in the background to both slimjet.com and slimjetbrowser.com, in addition to the many other google services already listed.
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