SERIOUS Help Needed: Best Open Source PDF Reader For User Privacy?

[FatGuy]

I just checked and TAILS(the most secure Linux distro) comes with this PDF reader as standard: http://kjo.herbesfolles.org/bookletimposer/#features

But I've never heard of it before... does anyone know anything about it?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

I just checked and TAILS(the most secure Linux distro) comes with this PDF reader as standard: http://kjo.herbesfolles.org/bookletimposer/#features

But I've never heard of it before... does anyone know anything about it?

That looks like a utility to reformat PDF files, not to display them.

[FatGuy]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

That looks like a utility to reformat PDF files, not to display them.

Thanks so much for your reply!

I just came across this comparison and it looks really good. I'd appreciate any opinions:
https://www.saashub.com/compare-fool...vs-sumatra-pdf

[meeera]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

Can you explain your idea a bit more? I just want to "lock down" a PDF reader so that it cannot send data back to the Internet.

Because as far as I can see, it's the quickest way to achieve what you have said you want to achieve. Use whatever software you like best; if your device is never connected to the internet, no software on it can phone home.

As Kindleing said, the only secure device is an air-gapped one.

I've not used any open-source cross-platform PDF readers, so I can't help you with anything else. Locked-down security of my reading list is not something I care about.

[Saxonicum]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

I just checked and TAILS(the most secure Linux distro) comes with this PDF reader as standard: http://kjo.herbesfolles.org/bookletimposer/#features

But I've never heard of it before... does anyone know anything about it?

Sorry, I don't want to get into the habit of necromancing threads here but TAILs is not what you want. You want OpenBSD w/ the fvwm or cwm window mangers , in the base system, with xpdf compiled and locked down w/ unveil and pledge :

https://www.openbsd.org/

https://man.openbsd.org/unveil

https://man.openbsd.org/pledge.2

You have to know how to properly lock down the system, in general, though as a sysadmdin in general.

A less paranoid option is Alpine Linux with xpdf locked down w/ firejail and apparmor or selinux.

You also want to run this on something like pinebook w/ no IME backdoors or proprietary firmware.

You also want a minimal package set installed so in OpenBSD this means very little to nothing from the third party ports system.

[HarryEngineer]

This has to somewhat be approach from the ground up,

Dont use Windows or Mac, they don't respect or care about their users wants/needs for privacy at any level.
Move over to Linux, its not that hard.

Also use a device thats not connected to the net when handling your docs, that way you dont have to care, and ideally its NEVER connected to net.

you could even buy a crappy cheap 2nd hand system just to throw linux on it to learn and also handle your docs. then this system never goes online.

Also don't put too much "trust" into anything, even if its stated they can easily ignore it behind the scenes...

On a side-note, the big multinational companies(google, microsoft, apple) state openly in their terms and conditions the microphones in their phones/machines/tablets are in an "always-listening-state", and the masses dont give a sh**...

[FatGuy]

Originally Posted by HarryEngineer

This has to somewhat be approach from the ground up,

Dont use Windows or Mac, they don't respect or care about their users wants/needs for privacy at any level.
Move over to Linux, its not that hard.

Also use a device thats not connected to the net when handling your docs, that way you dont have to care, and ideally its NEVER connected to net.

you could even buy a crappy cheap 2nd hand system just to throw linux on it to learn and also handle your docs. then this system never goes online.

Also don't put too much "trust" into anything, even if its stated they can easily ignore it behind the scenes...

On a side-note, the big multinational companies(google, microsoft, apple) state openly in their terms and conditions the microphones in their phones/machines/tablets are in an "always-listening-state", and the masses dont give a sh**...

Thanks so much for your reply!

Is there a particular device you can recommend?

An ebook device or a laptop of some kind that's completely disconnected from the Internet?

I also thought about using a Windows software firewall to block outgoing communication from the PDF App to the Internet.

SumatraPDF still seems like the best choice for user privacy and user security? https://www.sumatrapdfreader.org/dow...ree-pdf-viewer

XPDF was last updated in April 2022... https://www.xpdfreader.com/download.html

The XPDF community seems dead as well as the last post was on 15th Dec 2023:
https://forum.xpdfreader.com//

[Quoth]

Windows firewall! I disable it. Then no-one is trusting it.

Sumatra is OK on Windows, but if you are fussed about privacy then use Linux. I use Okular on it. Even a 10 year old 64 bit with 2G RAM and 80G HDD will run current Linux Mint with Mate desktop.

But the Kobo eink ereaders don't need the Internet.

[JSWolf]

User Privacy is a myth.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

User Privacy is a myth.

And a most profitable one.

[Freso]

Originally Posted by FatGuy

My huge worry is that the PDF reader App I'm using will "call home" to someone on the Internet and upload information [...]

If you're using Linux, you can prepend the command for opening whatever program you use with `unshare -n` which will create a new "network" on your computer that isn't connected to the internet and that only that application has access to (see `man unshare` for more information). E.g., if you use xpdf you'd use:

unshare -n xpdf

You might want to edit any .desktop files that provide a graphical access in your window manager; https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Desktop_entries might be able to help you achieve this, or maybe your own distribution has documentation that can help or guide you.

As others have pointed out, this will only cover the reader itself. Other applications might still read your file system and share what's there with others. You haven't really provided any information exactly as to the threat model you're facing or fear facing or how much convenience you're willing to give up. If all you care about is your reader not "phoning home", using `unshare` should be plenty to satisfy you and you can use whatever reader you actually like the most, as it won't be able to send anything anywhere.