Allow to clarify.
RMS said he uses IceCat and Tor. Many people think that makes it OK. Well,
maybe in a freedom perspective (one can argue that IceCat is more free than
Firefox or Tor Browser, but from a user point of view they are the same).
However from a security and privacy perspective, it is totally wrong.
Consider this: Tor hides your identity by making every user look the same.
So, if you use a different browser (and there are many ways to know which
browser you are using) you make yourself unique, and therefore easy to track
and follow. I had already said that in another comment here in the forum.
Consider also this: the Tor Project has a team working on the Tor Browser
everyday, to make it safe to use. You think they would spend resources like
that if it was THAT easy? It's not. Browser fingerprint is a though subject
and the Tor Browser has a lot of patches to make sure that you don't seem too
unique. IceCat for example has LibreJS or whatever that is called. It is a
MAJOR fingerprint issue. Maybe if everyone used it it would be ok, but as of
right now I think not a lot of people do that.
Also consider this: Tor Browser has been aligning its releases with Firefox
security releases to make sure that there are no open bugs an attacker might
exploit. I don't know about IceCat release cycle, but check if they are fast
enough putting out security updates.
Finally, I will have to advise everyone NOT to use IceCat with Tor, at least
not if you need STRONG anonimity. If its just a matter of not wanting your
ISP to know that you see funny cats online, that's ok. But the websites where
you see funny cats have a good chance of knowing that its you. Well, at least
knowing its the same person, even if they can't know who it is...
