Install a CDN-emulator on Firefox - Decentraleyes

Decentraleyes is a browser add-on used for local content delivery network (CDN) emulation, that protects your privacy by evading large CDNs (e.g. Google Hosted Libraries). In this guide, you'll learn how to install Decentraleyes on Firefox to prevent CDNs from tracking your online activity.

Last modified
11th March 2021
Guide level
Guide Browser

Content delivery networks (CDNs) are geographically distributed networks of proxy servers that seek to provide features such as better availability and performances for websites. While the goal is commendable, it also means that these CDN providers receive metadata related to the websites you visit (where they are set up). With this is mind, you might want to sacrifice the added convenience and avoid large CDN providers (such as Google and Cloudfare) to prevent them from obtaining any data related to your online browsing.
To do so, this guide will explain how to install Decentraleyes on Firefox.

Installation

Like any other add-on, install Decentraleyes by visiting the Mozilla Firefox Add-ons page and clicking Add to Firefox (Fig. 1) and then clicking on Add when prompted (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1: Download Decentraleyes
Fig. 2: Add Decentraleyes to Firefox
Fig. 3: Notification of successful installation

Upon successful installation a notification appears on the top-right corner, and the Decentraleyes icon is added to your toolbar (Fig. 3). When you visit a website, Decentraleyes automatically blocks connections to third-party CDNs and injects the assets locally, which you can check by clicking the icon (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4: Decentraleyes pop-up interface

You can test the add-on is working correctly by visiting the Decentraleyes testing utility. If you are interested in more advanced usage, visit the official documentation page.

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