4 ms·

Sponsored Top Sites with Firefox 83

36 points by 1_player 6y ago

0xy 6y ago
Cliqz, ads in the address bar, Mr Robot malvertising. Firefox has a long history of throwing users under the bus for cash. The cash they get isn't reinvested into Firefox either, which is lagging behind both Chrome and Safari in a lot of ways. The cash is thrown at highly questionable Mozilla pet projects that are shuttered with nothing to show for it years later. Mozilla is a mismanaged shell of its former self. After users widely complained about the disastrous launch of Firefox Android that stripped most of the useful features, a senior Mozilla developer sent out a tweet giving the middle finger to users. [1] [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/i8nuyb/firefox_developer_literally_gives_users_the/ https://old.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/i8nuyb/firefox_de...
a_imho 6y ago
Is this the same as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10679519 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10679519 [2015]? It is interesting moz://a could not come up with a different revenue stream idea in 5 years.
gxqoz 6y ago
Opera's aggressive pushing of this crap finally made me switch off it for good. Hopefully I never see this again after turning it off in Firefox.
1_player 6y ago
These are enabled by default and they just showed up on my URL bar: https://i.redd.it/nyff2ym2wl061.png https://i.redd.it/nyff2ym2wl061.png Can be turned off by toggling `browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsoredTopSites`.
llimos 6y ago
IMO this is about as tame as it gets when it comes to advertising. You can switch it off, and there's no tracking. I hope they make enough from it to make a good case for tracking-free advertising. (And not that they end up wishing they were a bit less 'privacy-centered'.)
codecalec 6y ago
Hopefully this brings more funds to Firefox. Still don't like the idea that Google is required to keep it up and running.
djsumdog 6y ago
Mozilla stands for less and less of what it did back in University when they first released "Firebird" from reworking the old Netscape/Mozilla source. I hate that there are only two major web engines now.
- wodenokoto 6y ago
  I don't understand why people think using Google as your advertisement middle-man is so much more righteous than doing the advertisement yourself. Mozilla has been taking money for giving Google access to advertise to its users since at least 2004 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Foundation#Financing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Foundation#Financing
- ohgodplsno 6y ago
  Right, because the default behavior of sending all default searches (and therefore, data) to Google is so much better. Mozilla's entire existence being beholden to Google being afraid of being sued is so much better. It's not a perfect solution. But Mozilla moving away from being dependent on Google is the best they can do. And it can entirely be disabled.
- OneLeggedCat 6y ago
  I wish they'd at least quit being sneaky about stuff like this. This wasn't mentioned in the release notes at all. Just a section inside the privacy section of the knowledge base.
- Gaelan 6y ago
  There are three, Webkit, Blink, and Gecko. Blink is a Webkit derivative but they've been developed separately for years now.
poxwole 6y ago
Someone, anyone please make an extent to disable this for good.
- gostsamo 6y ago
  Yes, FF has already done that. Fortunately, there is nobody to read this.
Uninen 6y ago
I wish Mozilla would let me pay for FireFox. I care about the open Web and would gladly pay for one of my most important tools.
- elektor 6y ago
  You can pay for Mozilla VPN to support them
  - dingaling 6y ago
    Most of that subscription goes to Mullvad
- mimi89999 6y ago
  They have a donnate page on their website.
  - Nextgrid 6y ago
    The donations go for Mozilla’s other projects, not directly to Firefox developments. As far as I know there is no way to donate directly to Firefox development.

36 points by 1_player 6y ago

0xy 6y ago

Cliqz, ads in the address bar, Mr Robot malvertising. Firefox has a long history of throwing users under the bus for cash. The cash they get isn't reinvested into Firefox either, which is lagging behind both Chrome and Safari in a lot of ways. The cash is thrown at highly questionable Mozilla pet projects that are shuttered with nothing to show for it years later. Mozilla is a mismanaged shell of its former self. After users widely complained about the disastrous launch of Firefox Android that stripped most of the useful features, a senior Mozilla developer sent out a tweet giving the middle finger to users. [1] [1] https://old.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/i8nuyb/firefox_developer_literally_gives_users_the/ https://old.reddit.com/r/browsers/comments/i8nuyb/firefox_de...

a_imho 6y ago

Is this the same as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10679519 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10679519 [2015]? It is interesting moz://a could not come up with a different revenue stream idea in 5 years.

gxqoz 6y ago

Opera's aggressive pushing of this crap finally made me switch off it for good. Hopefully I never see this again after turning it off in Firefox.

1_player 6y ago

These are enabled by default and they just showed up on my URL bar: https://i.redd.it/nyff2ym2wl061.png https://i.redd.it/nyff2ym2wl061.png Can be turned off by toggling `browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.showSponsoredTopSites`.

llimos 6y ago

IMO this is about as tame as it gets when it comes to advertising. You can switch it off, and there's no tracking. I hope they make enough from it to make a good case for tracking-free advertising. (And not that they end up wishing they were a bit less 'privacy-centered'.)

codecalec 6y ago

Hopefully this brings more funds to Firefox. Still don't like the idea that Google is required to keep it up and running.

djsumdog 6y ago

Mozilla stands for less and less of what it did back in University when they first released "Firebird" from reworking the old Netscape/Mozilla source. I hate that there are only two major web engines now.

wodenokoto 6y ago
I don't understand why people think using Google as your advertisement middle-man is so much more righteous than doing the advertisement yourself. Mozilla has been taking money for giving Google access to advertise to its users since at least 2004 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Foundation#Financing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozilla_Foundation#Financing
ohgodplsno 6y ago
Right, because the default behavior of sending all default searches (and therefore, data) to Google is so much better. Mozilla's entire existence being beholden to Google being afraid of being sued is so much better. It's not a perfect solution. But Mozilla moving away from being dependent on Google is the best they can do. And it can entirely be disabled.
OneLeggedCat 6y ago
I wish they'd at least quit being sneaky about stuff like this. This wasn't mentioned in the release notes at all. Just a section inside the privacy section of the knowledge base.
Gaelan 6y ago
There are three, Webkit, Blink, and Gecko. Blink is a Webkit derivative but they've been developed separately for years now.

poxwole 6y ago

Someone, anyone please make an extent to disable this for good.

gostsamo 6y ago
Yes, FF has already done that. Fortunately, there is nobody to read this.

Uninen 6y ago

I wish Mozilla would let me pay for FireFox. I care about the open Web and would gladly pay for one of my most important tools.

elektor 6y ago
You can pay for Mozilla VPN to support them
- dingaling 6y ago
  Most of that subscription goes to Mullvad
mimi89999 6y ago
They have a donnate page on their website.
- Nextgrid 6y ago
  The donations go for Mozilla’s other projects, not directly to Firefox developments. As far as I know there is no way to donate directly to Firefox development.