3 ms·

How can this work "for German users"? Why is this not a "for a Firefox user"? I am German - how do I know this is enabled for me? I do not live in Germany.

marginalia_nu 3y ago
Firefox periodically dials home and reconfigures itself based on the arbitrary whims of Mozilla. It's really kind of disgusting.
- Dalewyn 3y ago
  For those interested, the mothership is: incoming.telemetry.mozilla.org I'm fairly certain the telemetry can be disabled, but it is enabled by default and it's among the top 10 most blocked addresses in my Pi-Hole. Frankly, I'm weighing the benefits to cost ratio of just blacklisting all Mozilla domains if this gets worse.
  - jimbobthrowawy 3y ago
    Telemetry and "studies" are both checkboxes in the privacy section of firefox's preferences. I usually turn both off right after changing the default search engine and disabling search suggestions, when I setup a new install.
    - marginalia_nu 3y ago
      Turns out this only turns off some of the telemetry. Turning it off completely is not entirely trivial. https://github.com/K3V1991/Disable-Firefox-Telemetry-and-Data-Collection https://github.com/K3V1991/Disable-Firefox-Telemetry-and-Dat...
      - Dalewyn 3y ago
        Mozilla claiming to be the champions of privacy (among other virtues) makes this arguably worse than Google, Microsoft, et al. because they're at least upfront about their telemetry.
- martijnvds 3y ago
  And the other browsers don't? I've had my share of weird issues in Chrome because they enabled an "experiment" of some kind.
  - marginalia_nu 3y ago
    Yes, they are all doing it, and it's all bad. Though Firefox is especially culpable since most of their marketing is about privacy. It's apparently only bad when other people are spying on their users.
rawling 3y ago
The article itself doesn't say that. > The cookie banner blocker is available starting from Firefox version 120, and it's automatically enabled for users in Germany browsing in Private Browsing Mode. > ... > Enable: By default, it's on in private windows for users in Germany. > ... > Why Germany and private browsing mode? > Our initial launch in Germany and private browsing mode has specific reasons: > - Private browsing mode displays cookie banners repeatedly, making this feature especially useful. Germany, as a part of the European Union, is a prominent market where cookie banners are noticeable due to GDPR. > - We plan to gather insights from this launch before potentially expanding the feature to a broader audience.
palata 3y ago
From the article: > Firefox version 120 introduces the cookie banner blocker. > Enable: By default, it's on in private windows for users in Germany.
- eatbitseveryday 3y ago
  That doesn't say how they determine "users in Germany". Dial IP into some service and look at geo location? Sort of pointless if VPN is used?
  - palata 3y ago
    Oh, I get your point now :-)
ruune 3y ago
It clearly means "up-to-date Firefox instances located in Germany", your nationality doesn't really matter. Germany was probably chosen because Firefox's market share is fairly high there

marginalia_nu 3y ago

Firefox periodically dials home and reconfigures itself based on the arbitrary whims of Mozilla. It's really kind of disgusting.

Dalewyn 3y ago
For those interested, the mothership is: incoming.telemetry.mozilla.org I'm fairly certain the telemetry can be disabled, but it is enabled by default and it's among the top 10 most blocked addresses in my Pi-Hole. Frankly, I'm weighing the benefits to cost ratio of just blacklisting all Mozilla domains if this gets worse.
- jimbobthrowawy 3y ago
  Telemetry and "studies" are both checkboxes in the privacy section of firefox's preferences. I usually turn both off right after changing the default search engine and disabling search suggestions, when I setup a new install.
  - marginalia_nu 3y ago
    Turns out this only turns off some of the telemetry. Turning it off completely is not entirely trivial. https://github.com/K3V1991/Disable-Firefox-Telemetry-and-Data-Collection https://github.com/K3V1991/Disable-Firefox-Telemetry-and-Dat...
    - Dalewyn 3y ago
      Mozilla claiming to be the champions of privacy (among other virtues) makes this arguably worse than Google, Microsoft, et al. because they're at least upfront about their telemetry.
martijnvds 3y ago
And the other browsers don't? I've had my share of weird issues in Chrome because they enabled an "experiment" of some kind.
- marginalia_nu 3y ago
  Yes, they are all doing it, and it's all bad. Though Firefox is especially culpable since most of their marketing is about privacy. It's apparently only bad when other people are spying on their users.

rawling 3y ago

The article itself doesn't say that. > The cookie banner blocker is available starting from Firefox version 120, and it's automatically enabled for users in Germany browsing in Private Browsing Mode. > ... > Enable: By default, it's on in private windows for users in Germany. > ... > Why Germany and private browsing mode? > Our initial launch in Germany and private browsing mode has specific reasons: > - Private browsing mode displays cookie banners repeatedly, making this feature especially useful. Germany, as a part of the European Union, is a prominent market where cookie banners are noticeable due to GDPR. > - We plan to gather insights from this launch before potentially expanding the feature to a broader audience.

palata 3y ago

From the article: > Firefox version 120 introduces the cookie banner blocker. > Enable: By default, it's on in private windows for users in Germany.

eatbitseveryday 3y ago
That doesn't say how they determine "users in Germany". Dial IP into some service and look at geo location? Sort of pointless if VPN is used?
- palata 3y ago
  Oh, I get your point now :-)

ruune 3y ago

It clearly means "up-to-date Firefox instances located in Germany", your nationality doesn't really matter. Germany was probably chosen because Firefox's market share is fairly high there