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Google has (always) gathered information about Chrome -- and Chromium -- users by default, including every keystroke typed into the "omnibox". Not easy to disab

by _hyn3 9y ago

Google has (always) gathered information about Chrome -- and Chromium -- users by default, including every keystroke typed into the "omnibox". Not easy to disable, either. This seems to be a recent Firefox policy change: all editions of Firefox is now collecting data, such as telemetry, information gathering, usage data. (URL's? Form data?) This is all opt-out instead of opt-in now, and you're asked only after installation. You have to pro-actively disable it. (Formerly, telemetry gathering was only gathered by default on nightlies and dev tracks; this telemetry does cover usage.. i.e., this seems to include what URL's you're browsing; this could be a security risk for apps like Dropbox and OneDrive.) To be fair, it's easier to opt-out in Firefox than it is in Chrome, and Firefox is also more up-front about it after initial setup/installation; still, given that Firefox held itself out as the privacy-oriented browser, this is a significant change. (Which leads to a new question.. what's the new best privacy browser? probably Brave? or, perhaps, Opera?) EDIT: citation, thanks to cJ0th: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/

dsschnau 9y ago
brave and opera both sit on top of chromium so idk about those
- jamiesonbecker 9y ago
  Well, they both use webkit or blink for rendering, but I don't know how much of the actual chromium codebase is used. However that shouldn't actually matter, because they both claim to focus on privacy (especially Brave), which means that they've presumably removed or disabled the data tracking code from Chromium... or just changed the API endpoints ;)
gcp 9y ago
Firefox does NOT do any this, as far as I know. What is the source of this FUD? A public discussion was started to get to know how people felt about privacy conserving telemetry collection that would be opt out by default. There was massive negative feedback (duh). The feature did not ship in 57. https://medium.com/georg-fritzsche/data-preference-changes-in-firefox-58-2d5df9c428b5 https://medium.com/georg-fritzsche/data-preference-changes-i... "instead we always collect LESS data on Firefox release."
- kuschku 9y ago
  > The feature did not ship in 57. But CliqZ did ship for some German users, randomly chosen. Which tracks your entire browsing history, and sends it to a company that’s most known for its tracking products. After this, Firefox deserves to be treated as just as much spyware as Chrome.
  - jamiesonbecker 9y ago
    Why was this downvoted? I didn't know anything about this, but it seems (in)credible: "Mozilla pilots Cliqz engine in Firefox to slurp user browsing data" "Users who receive a version of Firefox with Cliqz will have their browsing activity sent to Cliqz servers, including the URLs of pages they visit," Mozilla says. "Cliqz uses several techniques to attempt to remove sensitive information from this browsing data before it is sent from Firefox." http://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-tests-cliqz-engine-which-slurps-user-browsing-data/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-tests-cliqz-engine-whic...
  - jovial_galileo 9y ago
    This is simply not true. They do not send the user browser history. Most data is processed on the client side https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e885e5 https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e885...
    - kuschku 9y ago
      Great, so it only transmits half of your search history without asking you. That's so much of an improvement for a browser which people only use because they want absolute privacy.
- cJ0th 9y ago
  > Firefox does NOT do any this, as far as I know. What is the source of this FUD? "Firefox by default shares data to: Improve performance and stability for users everywhere Interaction data: Firefox sends data about your interactions with Firefox to us (such as number of open tabs and windows; number of webpages visited; number and type of installed Firefox Add-ons; and session length) and Firefox features offered by Mozilla or our partners (such as interaction with Firefox search features and search partner referrals). Technical data: Firefox sends data about your Firefox version and language; device operating system and hardware configuration; memory, basic information about crashes and errors; outcome of automated processes like updates, safebrowsing, and activation to us. When Firefox sends data to us, your IP address is temporarily collected as part of our server logs. Read the telemetry documentation for Desktop, Android, or iOS or learn how to opt-out of this data collection." via https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/
walterbell 9y ago
Brave browser from Brendan Eich, Mozilla co-founder
hobarrera 9y ago
> you're asked only after installation. You have to pro-actively disable it. Of course it's done after installation -- how would an app allow you to configure something BEFORE it's installed?

by _hyn3 9y ago

dsschnau 9y ago

brave and opera both sit on top of chromium so idk about those

jamiesonbecker 9y ago
Well, they both use webkit or blink for rendering, but I don't know how much of the actual chromium codebase is used. However that shouldn't actually matter, because they both claim to focus on privacy (especially Brave), which means that they've presumably removed or disabled the data tracking code from Chromium... or just changed the API endpoints ;)

gcp 9y ago

Firefox does NOT do any this, as far as I know. What is the source of this FUD? A public discussion was started to get to know how people felt about privacy conserving telemetry collection that would be opt out by default. There was massive negative feedback (duh). The feature did not ship in 57. https://medium.com/georg-fritzsche/data-preference-changes-in-firefox-58-2d5df9c428b5 https://medium.com/georg-fritzsche/data-preference-changes-i... "instead we always collect LESS data on Firefox release."

kuschku 9y ago
> The feature did not ship in 57. But CliqZ did ship for some German users, randomly chosen. Which tracks your entire browsing history, and sends it to a company that’s most known for its tracking products. After this, Firefox deserves to be treated as just as much spyware as Chrome.
- jamiesonbecker 9y ago
  Why was this downvoted? I didn't know anything about this, but it seems (in)credible: "Mozilla pilots Cliqz engine in Firefox to slurp user browsing data" "Users who receive a version of Firefox with Cliqz will have their browsing activity sent to Cliqz servers, including the URLs of pages they visit," Mozilla says. "Cliqz uses several techniques to attempt to remove sensitive information from this browsing data before it is sent from Firefox." http://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-tests-cliqz-engine-which-slurps-user-browsing-data/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/firefox-tests-cliqz-engine-whic...
- jovial_galileo 9y ago
  This is simply not true. They do not send the user browser history. Most data is processed on the client side https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e885e5 https://gist.github.com/solso/423a1104a9e3c1e3b8d7c9ca14e885...
  - kuschku 9y ago
    Great, so it only transmits half of your search history without asking you. That's so much of an improvement for a browser which people only use because they want absolute privacy.
cJ0th 9y ago
> Firefox does NOT do any this, as far as I know. What is the source of this FUD? "Firefox by default shares data to: Improve performance and stability for users everywhere Interaction data: Firefox sends data about your interactions with Firefox to us (such as number of open tabs and windows; number of webpages visited; number and type of installed Firefox Add-ons; and session length) and Firefox features offered by Mozilla or our partners (such as interaction with Firefox search features and search partner referrals). Technical data: Firefox sends data about your Firefox version and language; device operating system and hardware configuration; memory, basic information about crashes and errors; outcome of automated processes like updates, safebrowsing, and activation to us. When Firefox sends data to us, your IP address is temporarily collected as part of our server logs. Read the telemetry documentation for Desktop, Android, or iOS or learn how to opt-out of this data collection." via https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/

walterbell 9y ago

Brave browser from Brendan Eich, Mozilla co-founder

hobarrera 9y ago

> you're asked only after installation. You have to pro-actively disable it. Of course it's done after installation -- how would an app allow you to configure something BEFORE it's installed?