Introduction

Every developer has at least heard of JavaScript. The dreaded language that runs most of the World Wide Web’s logic. But did you know that it harbors great peril not just for developers, but also for regular end users, no matter which system they use. This danger comes from so-called “non-free JavaScript code”.

Digital Slavery

Non-free JavaScript performs a lot of functions. Among the most harmful are telemetry, espionage, and other intrusive practices that harm the end user in many different ways.

Telemetry is the process of collecting user data to create a “usage profile”, making targeted advertising a lot easier. This is often embedded in non-free JavaScript.

General data collection, in other words espionage, is often used in tandem with telemetry to gather information that governments or companies may want from end users. Both espionage and telemetry scripts have the tendency to “phone home”, secretly stealing sensitive user data and sending it to servers running proprietary software for further processing.

Since data is one of the most powerful resources available in the digital age, these companies have a stranglehold over what we want and don’t want, effectively turning us into digital slaves.

How to Circumvent This

There are mainly three ways to prevent this. The first method would be to outright ban the internet from your life. This might be good for your psyche, but you will look like some hobo outcast when you do it. The second way would be to block any and all JavaScript while browsing. This is a good idea, but it is not ideal, since many modern websites are practically unusable with JavaScript disabled. The last method would be to block only non-free JavaScript. This would make a few more websites usable and enable you to allowlist trivial scripts, even if they are non-free. There is a browser extension called LibreJS that does exactly that.

Conclusion

Blocking non-free JavaScript is a good way to reclaim your freedom on the World Wide Web. The better it becomes when you realize that the websites of all the big data thieves become virtually unusable.