8 ms·

I’ve had Mozilla developers tell me they have no interest in getting rid of all the phoning home Firefox does, not even as an advanced or hidden config. I wish

I’ve had Mozilla developers tell me they have no interest in getting rid of all the phoning home Firefox does, not even as an advanced or hidden config. I wish they cared as much about privacy at the technical level as they do in their marketing.

deepstack 4y ago
interesting, do want more information on this. Can someone who work for Mozilla care to comment on this? If this is true, then I would rather be using brave or ungoogled chrome build than Firefox.
- jefftk 4y ago
  The big advantage of using Firefox that you don't get with Brave or UnGoogled Chromium is that you are supporting browser engine diversity.
  - kreeben 4y ago
    To what end and through what means, though? Do you really think Mozilla would never do anything nefarious with the data that they collect? They would never, ever, swear on their mother's grave, sell that data to a third party, is that what you believe?
    - saagarjha 4y ago
      You're replying to a comment about browser engine diversity, which is largely decoupled from privacy.
- bkberry352 4y ago
  No, it's not true, anyone can opt out of telemetry at any time via about:preferences, you don't even need to go to about:config https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid
muizelaar 4y ago
What phoning home can't you disable in about:config?
- ocdtrekkie 4y ago
  I suspect the core issue isn't that you can't disable new privacy violations in Firefox, but that they're regularly added and default to being enabled, such that keeping them disabled is a regular full-time job. It'd be ideal if there was a single "don't phone home" switch that Firefox obeyed for all new telemetry features, but they don't. That being said, being upset Mozilla has a trash telemetry policy isn't a good excuse to use Chrome, a willfully compromised browser which has refused to implement industry-standard protections.
- danuker 4y ago
  https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/mozilla.html https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/mozilla.html
- encryptluks2 4y ago
  You can also disable phoning home in Chromium.
- freediver 4y ago
  It is problematic that phoning home is opt-out to begin with. A browser can not call itself privacy respecting if it is not zero telemetry by default.
harikb 4y ago
Do you have any reason to believe it is anything beyond a developer wanting to record usage and runtime issues?
- dataflow 4y ago
  I don't think moving the goalposts for Mozilla makes for a compelling argument.
- jakear 4y ago
  No matter what it’s for, there should be a way for concerned users to disable it. I say this as someone who is pro telemetry in general.
  - bkberry352 4y ago
    There is a way and it's officially documented: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid just go into about:preferences
    - user3939382 4y ago
      Again here’s their traffic upon start and exit after doing that https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png This is no extensions and all telemetry disabled.
- pessimizer 4y ago
  I have a reason to believe that it is a company wanting something beyond what many or most of the users would prefer.
  - jonathankoren 4y ago
    > I have a reason to believe that it is a company wanting something beyond what many or most of the users would prefer. As an exmozillian I find this I have to wonder about your reasons for this. From why you think crash reporting, render time, and privacy preserving analytics aren't giving benefits that users prefer, all the way to characterizing MoCo as "a company".
Pakdef 4y ago
I disabled the web portal ping in the settings (about:config - network.captive-portal-service.enabled - set to false)... I don't think it phones home anymore... But I sure don't like the direction Firefox is going. I've been using it since the beginning and I'm finally thinking of switching. The funny thing is that I started using Firefox because of extensions.... and they basically blocked extensions on Firefox mobile... I know that you can make collections, but they made it as painful as possible.
phyzome 4y ago
Ah, you'd better use Chrome, then. They hardly even claim to care about privacy!
- user3939382 4y ago
  I use Firefox, but I'm disappointed.
- yucky 4y ago
  If only there were more than 2 options for browsers...
  - prox 4y ago
    You have Firefox and everything Chromium based, which is still Chrome as I understand it.
    - yucky 4y ago
      Aside from the other alternative listed below, even within the Chromium universe you have options like Brave and LibreWolf which are very privacy oriented - https://privacytests.org/ https://privacytests.org/
    - MaxBarraclough 4y ago
      Not quite true, there are also the WebKit-based browsers: Safari, and some obscure ones such as GNOME Web.
      - bigDinosaur 4y ago
        Safari requires MacOS and thus isn't a replacement unless you exclusively use Macs. Also, for all its supposed support of privacy features it doesn't allow you to use good ad blocking plugins like uBlock Origin. I only use the thing because it's the best for battery life, otherwise I think it's significantly inferior to both Chromium and Firefox.
sensanaty 4y ago
It is unfortunate that it's enabled by default, but I just have NextDNS block any calls to and from `*.telemetry.mozilla.org`. 0 complaints from me after doing that
bkberry352 4y ago
Uhh, you absolutely can disable telemetry, it's in the Privacy and Security section of about:preferences, see here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid . Disabling telemetry is also interpreted as a deletion request, so anything collected so far will be deleted.
- user3939382 4y ago
  Here's all telemetry and extensions disabled upon start and exit https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png

deepstack 4y ago

interesting, do want more information on this. Can someone who work for Mozilla care to comment on this? If this is true, then I would rather be using brave or ungoogled chrome build than Firefox.

jefftk 4y ago
The big advantage of using Firefox that you don't get with Brave or UnGoogled Chromium is that you are supporting browser engine diversity.
- kreeben 4y ago
  To what end and through what means, though? Do you really think Mozilla would never do anything nefarious with the data that they collect? They would never, ever, swear on their mother's grave, sell that data to a third party, is that what you believe?
  - saagarjha 4y ago
    You're replying to a comment about browser engine diversity, which is largely decoupled from privacy.
bkberry352 4y ago
No, it's not true, anyone can opt out of telemetry at any time via about:preferences, you don't even need to go to about:config https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid

muizelaar 4y ago

What phoning home can't you disable in about:config?

ocdtrekkie 4y ago
I suspect the core issue isn't that you can't disable new privacy violations in Firefox, but that they're regularly added and default to being enabled, such that keeping them disabled is a regular full-time job. It'd be ideal if there was a single "don't phone home" switch that Firefox obeyed for all new telemetry features, but they don't. That being said, being upset Mozilla has a trash telemetry policy isn't a good excuse to use Chrome, a willfully compromised browser which has refused to implement industry-standard protections.
danuker 4y ago
https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/mozilla.html https://digdeeper.neocities.org/ghost/mozilla.html
encryptluks2 4y ago
You can also disable phoning home in Chromium.
freediver 4y ago
It is problematic that phoning home is opt-out to begin with. A browser can not call itself privacy respecting if it is not zero telemetry by default.

harikb 4y ago

Do you have any reason to believe it is anything beyond a developer wanting to record usage and runtime issues?

dataflow 4y ago
I don't think moving the goalposts for Mozilla makes for a compelling argument.
jakear 4y ago
No matter what it’s for, there should be a way for concerned users to disable it. I say this as someone who is pro telemetry in general.
- bkberry352 4y ago
  There is a way and it's officially documented: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid just go into about:preferences
  - user3939382 4y ago
    Again here’s their traffic upon start and exit after doing that https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png This is no extensions and all telemetry disabled.
pessimizer 4y ago
I have a reason to believe that it is a company wanting something beyond what many or most of the users would prefer.
- jonathankoren 4y ago
  > I have a reason to believe that it is a company wanting something beyond what many or most of the users would prefer. As an exmozillian I find this I have to wonder about your reasons for this. From why you think crash reporting, render time, and privacy preserving analytics aren't giving benefits that users prefer, all the way to characterizing MoCo as "a company".

Pakdef 4y ago

I disabled the web portal ping in the settings (about:config - network.captive-portal-service.enabled - set to false)... I don't think it phones home anymore... But I sure don't like the direction Firefox is going. I've been using it since the beginning and I'm finally thinking of switching. The funny thing is that I started using Firefox because of extensions.... and they basically blocked extensions on Firefox mobile... I know that you can make collections, but they made it as painful as possible.

phyzome 4y ago

Ah, you'd better use Chrome, then. They hardly even claim to care about privacy!

user3939382 4y ago
I use Firefox, but I'm disappointed.
yucky 4y ago
If only there were more than 2 options for browsers...
- prox 4y ago
  You have Firefox and everything Chromium based, which is still Chrome as I understand it.
  - yucky 4y ago
    Aside from the other alternative listed below, even within the Chromium universe you have options like Brave and LibreWolf which are very privacy oriented - https://privacytests.org/ https://privacytests.org/
  - MaxBarraclough 4y ago
    Not quite true, there are also the WebKit-based browsers: Safari, and some obscure ones such as GNOME Web.
    - bigDinosaur 4y ago
      Safari requires MacOS and thus isn't a replacement unless you exclusively use Macs. Also, for all its supposed support of privacy features it doesn't allow you to use good ad blocking plugins like uBlock Origin. I only use the thing because it's the best for battery life, otherwise I think it's significantly inferior to both Chromium and Firefox.

sensanaty 4y ago

It is unfortunate that it's enabled by default, but I just have NextDNS block any calls to and from `*.telemetry.mozilla.org`. 0 complaints from me after doing that

bkberry352 4y ago

Uhh, you absolutely can disable telemetry, it's in the Privacy and Security section of about:preferences, see here: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/telemetry-clientid . Disabling telemetry is also interpreted as a deletion request, so anything collected so far will be deleted.

user3939382 4y ago
Here's all telemetry and extensions disabled upon start and exit https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png https://i.imgur.com/VFb1maZ.png