7 ms·

Lots to see, like ads from "trusted partners" in the address bar. Funny how that wasn't a "highlight."

asdff 5y ago
Hillarious that they said it was an opt in feature, then when I checked my settings all these boxes were checked already. Who opted in for me, mozilla?
- noasaservice 5y ago
  And the insult to injury was the "will take 30 days to remove data". I never accepted it. You force-upgraded me and opted in without consent. And then hang a 30 day window of data retention... If that's true at all.
  - Operyl 5y ago
    Is that possibly because they’re including the backup age out period though?
    - noasaservice 5y ago
      Who knows. There was no informed consent. No opt-in. It was just turned on without my knowledge. I had to find out on Twitter infosec to watch out for this.
- bun_at_work 5y ago
  Seems like they don't actually say opt-in. In any case: Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Address Bar -- Firefox Suggest -> Contextual Suggestions -> Include Occasional Sponsored Suggestions For me it's selected, so I deselected it. Still a good browser. Edit: They do say opt-in, but the opt-in was in version 92.
  - spencerflem 5y ago
    if you click 'learn more' next to it, their description calls it opt in. Firefox is still way better than Chrome but this is definitely a scummy move
    - bun_at_work 5y ago
      It seems like it is opt-in. Just that the opt-in happens with the pop-up described in the link you mentioned [0]. I recall both seeing the pop-up and opt-ing in now that I see the pop-up. [0] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-suggest?as=u&utm_source=inproduct#w_opt-in-suggestions https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-fir...
      - asdff 5y ago
        I got no such popup, I checked my settings after one of these articles and it was already there.
        yborg 5y ago
        Same.
  - harry8 5y ago
    v.93 I don't even see Firefox Suggest in those settings. Linux distro removed it? Or Firefox know apple, windows people will just put up with anything but linux people probably won't? edit: Don't see it on an v.93 on an old mac laptop either. checkboxes for browsing history, bookmarks, open tabs, shortcuts, search engines only. I wanna yell fake news out of FF loyalty boosterism but I do actually believe you so I wonder what's going on?
    - jamie_ca 5y ago
      I think it's windows only (at least for now).
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
ChrisSD 5y ago
That's US only right? So it won't affect most users?
- judge2020 5y ago
  I'd be surprised if the US didn't have the largest amount of firefox users, even if it isn't the majority of all users worldwide. I couldn't find any data to back that up, though, since the public site[0] has no per-country statistics. 0: https://data.firefox.com/ https://data.firefox.com/
  - slig 5y ago
    There's a combo box on the top right corner.
    - pmontra 5y ago
      Thanks. Firefox is slowly losing users in all the countries in that list except in China. It's slowly growing there.
      - GekkePrutser 5y ago
        Pretty sure these latest changes are going to make them lose users a bit faster once more.. They really don't seem to understand the community that still supports them is exactly the community they're alienating with this.
- perihelions 5y ago
  They said the current roll-out is for a subset of US users, but who knows what their future plans are. (I'm going from memory here -- they deleted the relevant text on mozilla.org, replacing it with the apology paragraph). https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-suggest https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-fir... edit: Found an archive snapshot: https://archive.is/E7opj https://archive.is/E7opj "Firefox Suggest is currently available for a limited number of users in the U.S. only" (deleted text)
rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago
wow, that should indeed be highlighted! https://support.mozilla.org/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-suggest https://support.mozilla.org/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-s...
- webmobdev 5y ago
  It's even worse then I thought - every website you visit and every search query will be sent to them! They can basically create a whole shadow profile of you based on your browsing data (like Google already does when you enable search suggestion): > To help you find information faster, Firefox Suggest uses a service provided by us to offer relevant suggestions for what you’re typing. When you opt-in to improve Contextual suggestions, Mozilla receives your search queries. When you see or click on a Firefox Suggest result, Mozilla collects and sends your search queries and the result you click on to our partners through a Mozilla-owned proxy service.
  - decasteve 5y ago
    The best version of Firefox is the Tor Browser with Tor disabled. Avoids the “features” Mozilla insists on.
  - judge2020 5y ago
    Wow, that last bit. Would have been easier to swallow if Mozilla did the ad brokering and promised to not store them, but no, they do actually ship off the queries to partners.
  - literallyWTF 5y ago
    So if a person decides to opt in to this feature, they get to use said feature? Oh wow, stop the presses everyone.
    - GekkePrutser 5y ago
      It's not opt-in, many people here have reported it was on already. I don't see it myself at all but that's because it was only enabled in the US so far
squarefoot 5y ago
And it's not like they need to sell ads to make money. This can only generate bad PR without getting anything in return. Whoever authorized this change is essentially working against Firefox.
- fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
  Are you saying whoever they sold the ads to would give them the money whether or not they showed the ad?
  - CompuHacker 5y ago
    It looks like you skipped over the first idea they presented; that Mozilla doesn't need the money in any case.
    - fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
      Didn’t Mozilla recently lay off a bunch of good engineers? Seems like the organization thinks it needs money, although you could debate whether they are spending it the right way.
      - squarefoot 5y ago
        True, but at the same time they also raised to 4x their top executive pay.
- slightwinder 5y ago
  > And it's not like they need to sell ads to make money. Not at the moment, but long term they need to diversify their income. They lose users and the management doesn't work for free.
  - fzzzy 5y ago
    Mozilla management promised they would diversify income in 2016. Mozilla management is a miserable failure.
wodenokoto 5y ago
> Beginning in Firefox version 92, you will also receive new, relevant suggestions from our trusted partners based on what you’re searching for. Maybe that's why it isn't highlighted for new things for version 93.
- kreeben 5y ago
  From the v93 release notes: "Introducing Firefox Suggest"
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
yyyk 5y ago
For now, it's possible to use Firefox ESR version (Firefox 91 with security patches) and avoid this 'feature'. A year from now, when ESR loses support, I'll have to see whether FF will still be worth using.
- xxpor 5y ago
  Has anyone looked at maintaining a patch set to yank it out? FF is still open source.

Hillarious that they said it was an opt in feature, then when I checked my settings all these boxes were checked already. Who opted in for me, mozilla?

noasaservice 5y ago
And the insult to injury was the "will take 30 days to remove data". I never accepted it. You force-upgraded me and opted in without consent. And then hang a 30 day window of data retention... If that's true at all.
- Operyl 5y ago
  Is that possibly because they’re including the backup age out period though?
  - noasaservice 5y ago
    Who knows. There was no informed consent. No opt-in. It was just turned on without my knowledge. I had to find out on Twitter infosec to watch out for this.
bun_at_work 5y ago
Seems like they don't actually say opt-in. In any case: Settings -> Privacy and Security -> Address Bar -- Firefox Suggest -> Contextual Suggestions -> Include Occasional Sponsored Suggestions For me it's selected, so I deselected it. Still a good browser. Edit: They do say opt-in, but the opt-in was in version 92.
- spencerflem 5y ago
  if you click 'learn more' next to it, their description calls it opt in. Firefox is still way better than Chrome but this is definitely a scummy move
  - bun_at_work 5y ago
    It seems like it is opt-in. Just that the opt-in happens with the pop-up described in the link you mentioned [0]. I recall both seeing the pop-up and opt-ing in now that I see the pop-up. [0] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-suggest?as=u&utm_source=inproduct#w_opt-in-suggestions https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-fir...
    - asdff 5y ago
      I got no such popup, I checked my settings after one of these articles and it was already there.
      - yborg 5y ago
        Same.
- harry8 5y ago
  v.93 I don't even see Firefox Suggest in those settings. Linux distro removed it? Or Firefox know apple, windows people will just put up with anything but linux people probably won't? edit: Don't see it on an v.93 on an old mac laptop either. checkboxes for browsing history, bookmarks, open tabs, shortcuts, search engines only. I wanna yell fake news out of FF loyalty boosterism but I do actually believe you so I wonder what's going on?
  - jamie_ca 5y ago
    I think it's windows only (at least for now).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

ChrisSD 5y ago

That's US only right? So it won't affect most users?

judge2020 5y ago
I'd be surprised if the US didn't have the largest amount of firefox users, even if it isn't the majority of all users worldwide. I couldn't find any data to back that up, though, since the public site[0] has no per-country statistics. 0: https://data.firefox.com/ https://data.firefox.com/
- slig 5y ago
  There's a combo box on the top right corner.
  - pmontra 5y ago
    Thanks. Firefox is slowly losing users in all the countries in that list except in China. It's slowly growing there.
    - GekkePrutser 5y ago
      Pretty sure these latest changes are going to make them lose users a bit faster once more.. They really don't seem to understand the community that still supports them is exactly the community they're alienating with this.
perihelions 5y ago
They said the current roll-out is for a subset of US users, but who knows what their future plans are. (I'm going from memory here -- they deleted the relevant text on mozilla.org, replacing it with the apology paragraph). https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-suggest https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/navigate-web-faster-fir... edit: Found an archive snapshot: https://archive.is/E7opj https://archive.is/E7opj "Firefox Suggest is currently available for a limited number of users in the U.S. only" (deleted text)

rcMgD2BwE72F 5y ago

wow, that should indeed be highlighted! https://support.mozilla.org/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-suggest https://support.mozilla.org/kb/navigate-web-faster-firefox-s...

webmobdev 5y ago
It's even worse then I thought - every website you visit and every search query will be sent to them! They can basically create a whole shadow profile of you based on your browsing data (like Google already does when you enable search suggestion): > To help you find information faster, Firefox Suggest uses a service provided by us to offer relevant suggestions for what you’re typing. When you opt-in to improve Contextual suggestions, Mozilla receives your search queries. When you see or click on a Firefox Suggest result, Mozilla collects and sends your search queries and the result you click on to our partners through a Mozilla-owned proxy service.
- decasteve 5y ago
  The best version of Firefox is the Tor Browser with Tor disabled. Avoids the “features” Mozilla insists on.
- judge2020 5y ago
  Wow, that last bit. Would have been easier to swallow if Mozilla did the ad brokering and promised to not store them, but no, they do actually ship off the queries to partners.
- literallyWTF 5y ago
  So if a person decides to opt in to this feature, they get to use said feature? Oh wow, stop the presses everyone.
  - GekkePrutser 5y ago
    It's not opt-in, many people here have reported it was on already. I don't see it myself at all but that's because it was only enabled in the US so far

squarefoot 5y ago

And it's not like they need to sell ads to make money. This can only generate bad PR without getting anything in return. Whoever authorized this change is essentially working against Firefox.

fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
Are you saying whoever they sold the ads to would give them the money whether or not they showed the ad?
- CompuHacker 5y ago
  It looks like you skipped over the first idea they presented; that Mozilla doesn't need the money in any case.
  - fshbbdssbbgdd 5y ago
    Didn’t Mozilla recently lay off a bunch of good engineers? Seems like the organization thinks it needs money, although you could debate whether they are spending it the right way.
    - squarefoot 5y ago
      True, but at the same time they also raised to 4x their top executive pay.
slightwinder 5y ago
> And it's not like they need to sell ads to make money. Not at the moment, but long term they need to diversify their income. They lose users and the management doesn't work for free.
- fzzzy 5y ago
  Mozilla management promised they would diversify income in 2016. Mozilla management is a miserable failure.

wodenokoto 5y ago

> Beginning in Firefox version 92, you will also receive new, relevant suggestions from our trusted partners based on what you’re searching for. Maybe that's why it isn't highlighted for new things for version 93.

kreeben 5y ago
From the v93 release notes: "Introducing Firefox Suggest"

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

yyyk 5y ago

For now, it's possible to use Firefox ESR version (Firefox 91 with security patches) and avoid this 'feature'. A year from now, when ESR loses support, I'll have to see whether FF will still be worth using.

xxpor 5y ago
Has anyone looked at maintaining a patch set to yank it out? FF is still open source.