How to use Tails/Tor with sites that need Javascript

Question

Is it okay to set the Security setting to Safest then change the about:config settings for javascript.enabled to True and allow scripts for certain websites like Stackexchange and Reddit? I don't know exactly which ones are needed so I would just set them all to Temporarily Trusted

I found if I do this then go to old.reddit.com it works much better. If you don't change the about:config settings Tor won't let you connect to old.reddit.com

Does doing this weaken my anonymity alot? Is it okay to allow javascript on some sites while not allowing it on others where anonymity is very important durring the same session?

Alternativley, I can set the Security setting to Safer but then I won't have as much anonymity and I would have to restart Tails when I want more anonymity.

Answer 1

I found if I do this then go to old.reddit.com it works much better. If you don't change the about:config settings Tor won't let you connect to old.reddit.com

I cannot reproduce this. The old reddit layout (https://old.reddit.com/) works just fine for me without any tweaks whatsoever.

Is it okay to set the Security setting to Safest then change the about:config settings > for javascript.enabled to True and allow scripts for certain websites like Stackexchange and Reddit?

Normally, it is not recommended to make any changes to the plugins/'about:config' tweaks, etc. But I would like to point you to these articles which cover the issues with javascript and security settings.

I hope this helps.

Answer 2

Is it okay to set the Security setting to Safest then change the about:config settings for javascript.enabled to True and allow scripts for certain websites like Stackexchange and Reddit?

Is it OK? This depends on what is important to you.

This makes your browser behave differently compared to other instances of Tor Browser, or, to use the popular term, it changes your browser’s “fingerprint”. This reduces your anonymity. But it makes you less vulnerable to any flaws in the specific features that are disabled by Safest mode.

I found if I do this then go to old.reddit.com it works much better. If you don't change the about:config settings Tor won't let you connect to old.reddit.com

I agree with championquizzer: the old reddit site works fine in Safest mode with no exceptions.

Does doing this weaken my anonymity alot? Is it okay to allow javascript on some sites while not allowing it on others where anonymity is very important durring the same session?

Now you seem to be saying that anonymity is the most important issue here, so we can be more specific: this is a terrible idea. You are changing the browser’s fingerprint and leaving yourself vulnerable to JavaScript-based fingerprinting!

Alternativley, I can set the Security setting to Safer but then I won't have as much anonymity and I would have to restart Tails when I want more anonymity.

You are supposed to restart Tails on every context switch anyway, if anonymity is that important to you.