4 ms·

You're probably right but, as a member of that demographic: - I use Firefox, and have done continuously for a long time. I don't intend to switch to anything e

You're probably right but, as a member of that demographic: - I use Firefox, and have done continuously for a long time. I don't intend to switch to anything else, despite being very unhappy with the experience in many ways, as I consider it to be the "least worst" - I genuinely believe there are very easily achievable low-hanging fruit that Mozilla could implement that would at least please a large swathe of their target demographic. Namely, not talking about privacy and then slapping Google tracking into everything they do. I understand that there's a revenue stream there, and a balance to be met between economic survival and ideal conditions, but this particilar issue is a deal tipped too far towards defying the point of the exercise. Perhaps I'm in a bubble and this is just my "single issue", but shouting about privacy and sending all that data about their users to Google seems a fairly large deal to me.

amenod 7y ago
> ...and then slapping Google tracking into everything they do... Huh, I must have missed that - if true, this is a huge breach of trust for me. Do you have a link?
- Certhas 7y ago
  Until it's provided I would assume that it's a gross misrepresentation/exaggeration.
  - lucideer 7y ago
    Other than putting Google Analytics on all Mozilla properties as sibling commenters have already mentioned (link to info on that here [0]), there is also the following: - as I mentioned in another comment, Firefox Preview comes with Google as a default search engine (not a huge issue) and with "search suggestions" enabled by default (which sends everything you ever type to Google). - Even if you disable search suggestions (or change provider), Firefox has a built-in feature called "Google Safe Browsing" which collates every URL you visit and sends bulk reports to Google. This feature is only disable-able via the "here be dragons" about:config area. - then there's Google Location Services, which sends your WiFi router SSID, SSIDs of routers in range, and hardware details, to Google. This is less clear cut as Mozilla's use of this service has been on-off over time, and varies per device. See[1] [0] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/websites/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/websites/ [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1512161 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1512161
    - roca 7y ago
      This amounts to far less than "slapping Google tracking into everything they do", which reasonable people would interpret to include just using the browser. Reasonable people also understand that performing Google searches sends data to Google. Safe Browsing DOES NOT reveal URLs to Google. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Safe_Browsing#Privacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Safe_Browsing#Privacy and read the protocol spec or Firefox source code if you doubt this. > Google Location Services, which sends your WiFi router SSID, SSIDs of routers in range, and hardware details, to Google. This is less clear cut as Mozilla's use of this service has been on-off over time, and varies per device. Mozilla has made a significant investment to try to get away from this by building the Mozilla Location Service. In the meantime it's a straight tradeoff between quality of user experience and information leakage. Experience shows that degrading the user experience for some invisible and small privacy benefit is not a winning strategy.
    - fabrice_d 7y ago
      Safe Browsing doesn't report plaintext urls to Google. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Safe_Browsing https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Safe_Browsing and the more precisely the Update API it's using from https://developers.google.com/safe-browsing/v4/ https://developers.google.com/safe-browsing/v4/
    - dblohm7 7y ago
      "One of the most persistent misunderstandings about Safe Browsing is the idea that the browser needs to send all visited URLs to Google in order to verify whether or not they are safe." https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-in-firefox/ https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-...
    - rrix2 7y ago
      > Firefox has a built-in feature called "Google Safe Browsing" which collates every URL you visit and sends bulk reports to Google. This feature is only disable-able via the "here be dragons" about:config area. Is this not 'about:preferences' -> Privacy & Security -> Block dangerous and deceptive content ?
    - mncolinlee 7y ago
- zaarn 7y ago
  They do use Google Analytics on their websites but they do have a contract with Google that explicitly states that Google cannot use any of that data for tracking ever for any reason at all. Would make Mozilla rich if Google violated that.
- yorwba 7y ago
  E.g. this issue about Google Analytics on about:addons https://github.com/mozilla/addons-frontend/issues/2785 https://github.com/mozilla/addons-frontend/issues/2785
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
a254613e 7y ago
I'm with you on this one. I don't think mozilla is as privacy oriented as HN would make you think. * They pushed ad/extension for a TV show to everyone * They silently served modified installers to a small subset of users downloading firefox which sent all browsing data to a 3rd party by default. * Disabling experiments used for pushing the mr robot ad does not disable "normandy" - which is practically the same thing and they used to push new certificates once their old ones expired and broke addons recently. This feature is hidden in advanced settings. And then as you say, using google analytics everywhere (giving google data), painting google indirectly as evil while having it as a default engine and collecting google money.
- gnomewascool 7y ago
  > I don't think mozilla is as privacy oriented as HN would make you think. > * They pushed ad/extension for a TV show to everyone I assume you're talking about the "mr robot" thing here as well. One can accuse it of being many things, but it wasn't a privacy violation, as no data was sent (or planned to be sent) to anybody, either to Mozilla or any third-party. (It was silly, an abuse of studies, a source of worry for those who monitor their list of add-ons for suspicious items, and a strategic error.)

amenod 7y ago

> ...and then slapping Google tracking into everything they do... Huh, I must have missed that - if true, this is a huge breach of trust for me. Do you have a link?

Certhas 7y ago
Until it's provided I would assume that it's a gross misrepresentation/exaggeration.
- lucideer 7y ago
  Other than putting Google Analytics on all Mozilla properties as sibling commenters have already mentioned (link to info on that here [0]), there is also the following: - as I mentioned in another comment, Firefox Preview comes with Google as a default search engine (not a huge issue) and with "search suggestions" enabled by default (which sends everything you ever type to Google). - Even if you disable search suggestions (or change provider), Firefox has a built-in feature called "Google Safe Browsing" which collates every URL you visit and sends bulk reports to Google. This feature is only disable-able via the "here be dragons" about:config area. - then there's Google Location Services, which sends your WiFi router SSID, SSIDs of routers in range, and hardware details, to Google. This is less clear cut as Mozilla's use of this service has been on-off over time, and varies per device. See[1] [0] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/websites/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/websites/ [1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1512161 https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1512161
  - roca 7y ago
    This amounts to far less than "slapping Google tracking into everything they do", which reasonable people would interpret to include just using the browser. Reasonable people also understand that performing Google searches sends data to Google. Safe Browsing DOES NOT reveal URLs to Google. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Safe_Browsing#Privacy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Safe_Browsing#Privacy and read the protocol spec or Firefox source code if you doubt this. > Google Location Services, which sends your WiFi router SSID, SSIDs of routers in range, and hardware details, to Google. This is less clear cut as Mozilla's use of this service has been on-off over time, and varies per device. Mozilla has made a significant investment to try to get away from this by building the Mozilla Location Service. In the meantime it's a straight tradeoff between quality of user experience and information leakage. Experience shows that degrading the user experience for some invisible and small privacy benefit is not a winning strategy.
  - fabrice_d 7y ago
    Safe Browsing doesn't report plaintext urls to Google. See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Safe_Browsing https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Safe_Browsing and the more precisely the Update API it's using from https://developers.google.com/safe-browsing/v4/ https://developers.google.com/safe-browsing/v4/
  - dblohm7 7y ago
    "One of the most persistent misunderstandings about Safe Browsing is the idea that the browser needs to send all visited URLs to Google in order to verify whether or not they are safe." https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-in-firefox/ https://feeding.cloud.geek.nz/posts/how-safe-browsing-works-...
  - rrix2 7y ago
    > Firefox has a built-in feature called "Google Safe Browsing" which collates every URL you visit and sends bulk reports to Google. This feature is only disable-able via the "here be dragons" about:config area. Is this not 'about:preferences' -> Privacy & Security -> Block dangerous and deceptive content ?
  - mncolinlee 7y ago
zaarn 7y ago
They do use Google Analytics on their websites but they do have a contract with Google that explicitly states that Google cannot use any of that data for tracking ever for any reason at all. Would make Mozilla rich if Google violated that.
yorwba 7y ago
E.g. this issue about Google Analytics on about:addons https://github.com/mozilla/addons-frontend/issues/2785 https://github.com/mozilla/addons-frontend/issues/2785
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

a254613e 7y ago

I'm with you on this one. I don't think mozilla is as privacy oriented as HN would make you think. * They pushed ad/extension for a TV show to everyone * They silently served modified installers to a small subset of users downloading firefox which sent all browsing data to a 3rd party by default. * Disabling experiments used for pushing the mr robot ad does not disable "normandy" - which is practically the same thing and they used to push new certificates once their old ones expired and broke addons recently. This feature is hidden in advanced settings. And then as you say, using google analytics everywhere (giving google data), painting google indirectly as evil while having it as a default engine and collecting google money.

gnomewascool 7y ago
> I don't think mozilla is as privacy oriented as HN would make you think. > * They pushed ad/extension for a TV show to everyone I assume you're talking about the "mr robot" thing here as well. One can accuse it of being many things, but it wasn't a privacy violation, as no data was sent (or planned to be sent) to anybody, either to Mozilla or any third-party. (It was silly, an abuse of studies, a source of worry for those who monitor their list of add-ons for suspicious items, and a strategic error.)