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> I've read many discussions where someone says something of the form "I wish I didn't have to use X, but my friends and family all use it, so I'm forced to",

I know a person who keeps an entire virtualbox guest virtual machine that only has access to the internet through a VPN service, for the purpose of logging into Facebook in a browser interface. For the unavoidable purpose of keeping in touch with non technical family members who refuse to use anything else.



Why use a VM? Couldn't he just use a VPN and a different browser?


As it was explained to me, he finds the risk to his main desktop environment of browser fingerprinting/tracking by fb and its tracking-pixel using "partners" to be unacceptably high. By only using the browser in the vm to login to facebook and never anything else, this diminishes the risk.


Never heard of uBlock I suppose, poor lad.


uBlock is not bulletproof as it relies on signatures. Not to mention, the absence of data is data by itself, so maybe it's actually better to provide data, just that said data is fake and dissociated from your primary identity.


surprised they don’t use Qubes OS which takes this approach to isolating basically everything: https://www.qubes-os.org/intro/




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