4 ms·

Given you can just go override Firefox and enable disabled extensions, I'm not sure I understand the outrage. Then again, Mozilla does seem to attract a remark

Given you can just go override Firefox and enable disabled extensions, I'm not sure I understand the outrage. Then again, Mozilla does seem to attract a remarkable level of vitriol despite being one of the true stewards of an open internet...

dotancohen 3y ago
> Given you can just go override Firefox and enable disabled extensions No, _you_ can just go override Firefox and enable disabled extensions. The average user can not do that. _I_ can bore out a V-8 0.030 over, choose a proper cam, match all my bearing clearances, assemble the thing balanced, and then tune 30% more power out of it than it came with from the factory. But not all automobile drivers can do that.
- BaseballPhysics 3y ago
  I'm gonna wager by far the majority of people who will actually get affected or outraged by this have the technical wherewithal to click a little gear icon and re-enable an extension. Everyone else is running maybe uBlock and a privacy extension that their kid installed for them, and those will be whitelisted. This is a tempest in a teapot, just like every other "controversy" that Firefox finds themselves embroiled in.
  - lapcat 3y ago
    > I'm gonna wager by far the majority of people who will actually get affected We have no idea who will be affected, because Mozilla hasn't specified their plans for this "feature". > Everyone else is running maybe uBlock and a privacy extension that their kid installed for them, and those will be whitelisted. I'm an extension developer myself. I'm not ok with a world where a tiny number of lucky extensions get whitelisted, while my extension and everyone else's extensions get silently, remotely disabled by Firefox.
    - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
      They literally wrote a blog post about how they're going to use this feature. In what way have they not "specified their plans"? > I'm an extension developer myself. I'm not ok with a world where a tiny number of lucky extensions get whitelisted, while my extension and everyone else's extensions get silently, remotely disabled by Firefox Ah, now I see the real concern. Honestly, I'm not that sympathetic. Extensions have always been a potential security liability and anything that protects less savvy users when accessing online banking or other sensitive services is a good thing. Heavy extension use is the hallmark of a power user. Power users can configure Firefox to enable these extensions (Mozilla has specifically said they plan to deliver more user controls in 116), so I personally don't see the problem.
      - lapcat 3y ago
        > They literally wrote a blog post about how they're going to use this feature. In what way have they not "specified their plans"? Which domains will be quarantined? And which extensions will be exempted? Everyone seems to be assuming "banking" with absolutely no evidence whatsoever. Mozilla hasn't said. There are countless banks in the world. Is Mozilla going to maintain a list of every banking web site? The fact is that nobody knows what the hell Mozilla is going to do with the quarantine list.
        BaseballPhysics 3y ago
        So you assume the worst because you apparently don't trust them. I assume the best because I believe they have an exceptional track record. I see what they say and assume the best intentions. You look at what they don't say and assume the worst. I guess at this point we'll just see how it shakes out.
        Khaine 3y ago
        After all the shit Mozilla has pulled why would you trust them?
  - SilasX 3y ago
    Just like you probably dismissed the significance of banning unsigned addons until Mozilla forgot to update the certs and we had that worldwide extension outage?
    - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
      So because they screwed up in that circumstance I must now assume this new feature is a malicious power grab? Sure. I guess that makes sense. In the future I should use this entire situation when illustrating Hanlon's Razor...
      - SilasX 3y ago
        No, you should recognize your miscalibration on the question of "what's the worst that can happen".
- thomasjb 3y ago
  What's your boring setup?
  - dotancohen 3y ago
    Sending it to Ricks )) But I would check it meticulously at the top, middle, and bottom on every cylinder, in two axis, before bolting it together. Trust, but verify.
- nerdbert 3y ago
  The margin between users who can't figure out how to re-enable the extension, and users who would have imagined the existence of a password-paste-enabling-on-bank-site extension and then sought out and installed it in the first place, has to be vanishingly small. I bet we are talking about tens of people worldwide.

dotancohen 3y ago

> Given you can just go override Firefox and enable disabled extensions No, _you_ can just go override Firefox and enable disabled extensions. The average user can not do that. _I_ can bore out a V-8 0.030 over, choose a proper cam, match all my bearing clearances, assemble the thing balanced, and then tune 30% more power out of it than it came with from the factory. But not all automobile drivers can do that.

BaseballPhysics 3y ago
I'm gonna wager by far the majority of people who will actually get affected or outraged by this have the technical wherewithal to click a little gear icon and re-enable an extension. Everyone else is running maybe uBlock and a privacy extension that their kid installed for them, and those will be whitelisted. This is a tempest in a teapot, just like every other "controversy" that Firefox finds themselves embroiled in.
- lapcat 3y ago
  > I'm gonna wager by far the majority of people who will actually get affected We have no idea who will be affected, because Mozilla hasn't specified their plans for this "feature". > Everyone else is running maybe uBlock and a privacy extension that their kid installed for them, and those will be whitelisted. I'm an extension developer myself. I'm not ok with a world where a tiny number of lucky extensions get whitelisted, while my extension and everyone else's extensions get silently, remotely disabled by Firefox.
  - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
    They literally wrote a blog post about how they're going to use this feature. In what way have they not "specified their plans"? > I'm an extension developer myself. I'm not ok with a world where a tiny number of lucky extensions get whitelisted, while my extension and everyone else's extensions get silently, remotely disabled by Firefox Ah, now I see the real concern. Honestly, I'm not that sympathetic. Extensions have always been a potential security liability and anything that protects less savvy users when accessing online banking or other sensitive services is a good thing. Heavy extension use is the hallmark of a power user. Power users can configure Firefox to enable these extensions (Mozilla has specifically said they plan to deliver more user controls in 116), so I personally don't see the problem.
    - lapcat 3y ago
      > They literally wrote a blog post about how they're going to use this feature. In what way have they not "specified their plans"? Which domains will be quarantined? And which extensions will be exempted? Everyone seems to be assuming "banking" with absolutely no evidence whatsoever. Mozilla hasn't said. There are countless banks in the world. Is Mozilla going to maintain a list of every banking web site? The fact is that nobody knows what the hell Mozilla is going to do with the quarantine list.
      - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
        So you assume the worst because you apparently don't trust them. I assume the best because I believe they have an exceptional track record. I see what they say and assume the best intentions. You look at what they don't say and assume the worst. I guess at this point we'll just see how it shakes out.
        Khaine 3y ago
        After all the shit Mozilla has pulled why would you trust them?
- SilasX 3y ago
  Just like you probably dismissed the significance of banning unsigned addons until Mozilla forgot to update the certs and we had that worldwide extension outage?
  - BaseballPhysics 3y ago
    So because they screwed up in that circumstance I must now assume this new feature is a malicious power grab? Sure. I guess that makes sense. In the future I should use this entire situation when illustrating Hanlon's Razor...
    - SilasX 3y ago
      No, you should recognize your miscalibration on the question of "what's the worst that can happen".
thomasjb 3y ago
What's your boring setup?
- dotancohen 3y ago
  Sending it to Ricks )) But I would check it meticulously at the top, middle, and bottom on every cylinder, in two axis, before bolting it together. Trust, but verify.
nerdbert 3y ago
The margin between users who can't figure out how to re-enable the extension, and users who would have imagined the existence of a password-paste-enabling-on-bank-site extension and then sought out and installed it in the first place, has to be vanishingly small. I bet we are talking about tens of people worldwide.