Install Placid
The Placid Chrome extension aims to harden some boundaries, reducing distraction while you browse. Installing it has the following implications:
- Your new tab page will be set to a blank, grey slate.
- A variety of website capabilies will be disabled by default, including the ability to create sound, or ask for your location or the ability to send notifications.
- A variety of helpful services will be disabled, including password management, translation, and autofill.
- Third-party cookies will be disabled, along with some relevant APIs.
- Disables JavaScript for non-secure pages.
Technical details, for those who care:
The chrome.privacy API
is used to disable the following settings:
network.networkPredictionEnablednetwork.webRTCIPHandlingPolicy(set todisable_non_proxied_udp)services.alternateErrorPagesEnabledservices.autofillAddressEnabledservices.autofillCreditCardEnabledservices.passwordSavingEnabledservices.spellingServiceEnabledservices.translationServiceEnabledwebsites.adMeasurementEnabledwebsites.doNotTrackEnabledwebsites.fledgeEnabledwebsites.hyperlinkAuditingEnabledwebsites.relatedWebsiteSetsEnabledwebsites.thirdPartyCookiesAllowedwebsites.topicsEnabled
Similarly, the chrome.contentSetting API
is used to set the following settings to block:
The javascript setting is
configured to block for non-secure origins. No HTTPS, no script.
These settings match my preferences, as I'm quite comfortable adding overrides here and there for sites I wish to listen to, etc. They may or may not work well for you.
There are some additional settings I'd like it to control, but we'll need to extend the APIs first. Working on that.
Privacy Policy
Placid does not collect data. It executes code once upon installation and once per update to perform the configuration described above. The new tab page replacement has no JavaScript, and makes no remote requests.
Something missing?
The code is available on GitHub at mikewest/placid. Please do file an issue or send a PR if you're so inclined.