[tbb-bugs] #26146 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Setting `general.useragent.override` does not spoof the platform part anymore in ESR 60 which is confusing

Mon Sep 10 08:22:18 UTC 2018

#26146: Setting `general.useragent.override` does not spoof the platform part
anymore in ESR 60 which is confusing
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 Reporter:  gk                               |          Owner:  tbb-team
     Type:  defect                           |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium                           |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/Tor Browser         |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                           |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  ff60-esr, tbb-fingerprinting-os  |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                                   |         Points:
 Reviewer:                                   |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by cypherpunks3):

 During a brief chat I had with gk on IRC, we were discussing how this
 impacts Linux as opposed to OSX. While there are clear problems caused by
 user agent spoofing that affects OSX users, there seem to be none of
 consequence for Linux users. One possibility that turned up was Google
 Translate which used to give an impossible captcha on Tails, but I tested
 it on Windows, Tails, and Debian Linux using both the 8.0 and outdated
 browsers, and found that that is no longer the case regardless of the
 status of user agent spoofing. Whatever was causing it, Google fixed it
 for everyone.

 So far, while it may be beneficial to OSX users to disable spoofing (it is
 supposedly bad enough that some of them are actually leaving), I would
 like to see spoofing done for Linux users, in part because we are far less
 common than OSX users and stand out more in access logs with their default
 log level.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/26146#comment:30>
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