GNU bug report logs - #58011
Jitsi, Bowser, and IceCat's user agent string

Previous Next

Full log

Message #35 received at 58011 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Yusuf Talha <yusufcikisir <at> std.iyte.edu.tr>
To: Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org>
Cc: bill-auger <bill-auger <at> peers.community>, 58011 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Michael McMahon <michael <at> fsf.org>
Subject: Re: bug#58011: Jitsi, Bowser, and IceCat's user agent string
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2022 13:51:02 +0300

Hello, I am the one who reported the issue to Mr. McMahon.  I didn't
write here because I thought it isn't a GNU IceCat issue, rather it is
FSF's Jitsi instance issue.  Sorry about the inconvenience.

Mark H Weaver <mhw <at> netris.org> writes:

> However, it would also be good to understand why there seems to be at
> least one IceCat 102 build out there that sends a different user-agent
> string than the one sent by the IceCat 102 built by GNU Guix.

In the beginning, I thought it is related to the browser's user-agent
string. Because I installed `User-Agent Switcher and Manager' add-on and
then I could access the `jitsi.member.fsf.org' website.  After that, I
noticed that useragent string doesn't include "IceCat" as you said.  I
started to spoof Navigator API with CanvasBlocker add-on, which helped
me to bypass the issue.  I didn't want to mess with IceCat's defaults in
the first place but disabling privacy.resistFingerprinting seems to work
with Jitsi.  Ironically, it seems like enabling fingerprinting makes my
browser more recognizable, if I understood correctly.

Thank you for maintaining this browser both for installation scripts and
Guix package definition.

Also, this is the first time I'm writing to a mailing list with Gnus, so
please let me know if I didn't follow some conventions.

Previous Next

GNU bug tracking system
Copyright (C) 1999 Darren O. Benham, 1997,2003 nCipher Corporation Ltd, 1994-97 Ian Jackson.