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You don't just need "Studies" enabled, you also need to explicitly opt-in to each specific study on an individual basis: > Participation in an individual study

You don't just need "Studies" enabled, you also need to explicitly opt-in to each specific study on an individual basis: > Participation in an individual study is opt-in Source: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies If that didn't happen in this case, then I suspect it's probably a bug.

dpwm 9y ago
I can confirm this most certainly did not happen in my case and, from other comments, there seem to be a number of us who did not opt in to this "study."
- sli 9y ago
  Same here. I didn't even known about Studies until reading this thread.
acqq 9y ago
> you also need to explicitly opt-in Wrong, as far as I see: Looking in my about:config, I see app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled=true browser.onboarding.shieldstudy.enabled=true enabled by default. The settings that I've changed from the default are shown in bold. These aren't bold. Those are the defaults. Everybody can check. That means that the user must actively take steps to disable them, if he knows that they exist and where he can disable them. Every time the user creates a new profile, and most probably also when he "refreshes" an old one, he has by default the studies allowed. It's even worse in other aspects: through the UI the "Allow Firefox to install and run studies" can be unchecked but it doesn't change the value of "experiments.enabled" to false in about:config. Apparently the "experiments" allow Mozilla to install the "experimental" extensions to any user, without him knowing. And these extensions are invisible in the GUI! Even if the user goes to the about:config and sets extensions.ui.experiment.hidden to false, it will be automatically set to true again.
- Feniks 9y ago
  I speak from experience that a lot of FF users don't even know what about:config is or how to edit it. It all seems sneaky and deliberately obtuse.
- lozenge 9y ago
  It looks like experiments are previews of potential new features, like letting you pop a video out of a page https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/min-vid?utm_source=support.mozilla.org&utm_medium=sumo-article&utm_campaign=testpilot-secondwave&utm_content=sumo-post-minvid https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/min-vid?utm_source... Whereas studies collect usage data.
  - acqq 9y ago
    Why should the "previews of potential new features" in the form of the extensions be hidden from the user, and even if the user "unhides" them be automatically hidden again?
- Ajedi32 9y ago
  Are you sure that's what those config options do? I tried looking them up, but they don't seem to be listed in Mozilla's config documentation: http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries According to the Wiki page I linked in my previous comment, global settings shouldn't even matter in this case; since each SHIELD study must be opted into on an individual basis. (Or at least, that's how it's _supposed_ to work.) Edit: Looks like the wiki was updated to state that some studies can be opt-out rather than opt-in. This also seems in-line with the documentation for SHIELD, which has a section on opt-out studies: https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-out-study.html https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-o...
  - acqq 9y ago
    Your link in edit part is the answer to your question before the edit: https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-out-study.html https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-o... "opt-out-study: Install a Study Add-on Without Prompting The opt-out-study action installs an add-on, typically one that implements a feature experiment by changing Firefox and measuring how it affects the user." They are obviously the topic of: app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled=true That I mentioned. I see a lot of commenters trying to excuse them. The problem is, people allowed the "studies" because Mozilla claimed that they are "measuring" whatever "to make Firefox better." They never told anybody that they are selling the "studies" functionality which silently installs ("opt-out" not opt in!) to the advertisers. I don't know how anybody can defend such an approach.
uep 9y ago
Well, this is very troubling; it's installed in my browser. Not only did I not get prompted, I never volunteered for being in any studies. I'm running Firefox on Linux, but I installed it from Mozilla, and not the package manager.
ashark 9y ago
I just installed FF on my mom's new desktop yesterday, noticed this crap while installing ublock origin. Definitely didn't opt in to anything. Made me wonder whether I'd accidentally downloaded some malware from a look-alike site, instead of official Firefox.

dpwm 9y ago

I can confirm this most certainly did not happen in my case and, from other comments, there seem to be a number of us who did not opt in to this "study."

sli 9y ago
Same here. I didn't even known about Studies until reading this thread.

acqq 9y ago

> you also need to explicitly opt-in Wrong, as far as I see: Looking in my about:config, I see app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled=true browser.onboarding.shieldstudy.enabled=true enabled by default. The settings that I've changed from the default are shown in bold. These aren't bold. Those are the defaults. Everybody can check. That means that the user must actively take steps to disable them, if he knows that they exist and where he can disable them. Every time the user creates a new profile, and most probably also when he "refreshes" an old one, he has by default the studies allowed. It's even worse in other aspects: through the UI the "Allow Firefox to install and run studies" can be unchecked but it doesn't change the value of "experiments.enabled" to false in about:config. Apparently the "experiments" allow Mozilla to install the "experimental" extensions to any user, without him knowing. And these extensions are invisible in the GUI! Even if the user goes to the about:config and sets extensions.ui.experiment.hidden to false, it will be automatically set to true again.

Feniks 9y ago
I speak from experience that a lot of FF users don't even know what about:config is or how to edit it. It all seems sneaky and deliberately obtuse.
lozenge 9y ago
It looks like experiments are previews of potential new features, like letting you pop a video out of a page https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/min-vid?utm_source=support.mozilla.org&utm_medium=sumo-article&utm_campaign=testpilot-secondwave&utm_content=sumo-post-minvid https://testpilot.firefox.com/experiments/min-vid?utm_source... Whereas studies collect usage data.
- acqq 9y ago
  Why should the "previews of potential new features" in the form of the extensions be hidden from the user, and even if the user "unhides" them be automatically hidden again?
Ajedi32 9y ago
Are you sure that's what those config options do? I tried looking them up, but they don't seem to be listed in Mozilla's config documentation: http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries http://kb.mozillazine.org/About:config_entries According to the Wiki page I linked in my previous comment, global settings shouldn't even matter in this case; since each SHIELD study must be opted into on an individual basis. (Or at least, that's how it's _supposed_ to work.) Edit: Looks like the wiki was updated to state that some studies can be opt-out rather than opt-in. This also seems in-line with the documentation for SHIELD, which has a section on opt-out studies: https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-out-study.html https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-o...
- acqq 9y ago
  Your link in edit part is the answer to your question before the edit: https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-out-study.html https://normandy.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/actions/opt-o... "opt-out-study: Install a Study Add-on Without Prompting The opt-out-study action installs an add-on, typically one that implements a feature experiment by changing Firefox and measuring how it affects the user." They are obviously the topic of: app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled=true That I mentioned. I see a lot of commenters trying to excuse them. The problem is, people allowed the "studies" because Mozilla claimed that they are "measuring" whatever "to make Firefox better." They never told anybody that they are selling the "studies" functionality which silently installs ("opt-out" not opt in!) to the advertisers. I don't know how anybody can defend such an approach.

uep 9y ago

Well, this is very troubling; it's installed in my browser. Not only did I not get prompted, I never volunteered for being in any studies. I'm running Firefox on Linux, but I installed it from Mozilla, and not the package manager.

ashark 9y ago

I just installed FF on my mom's new desktop yesterday, noticed this crap while installing ublock origin. Definitely didn't opt in to anything. Made me wonder whether I'd accidentally downloaded some malware from a look-alike site, instead of official Firefox.