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Yes this is the reason Firefox can still survive. But it's easy to turn off, giving you easy and real privacy. On Chrome you don't have real privacy.

1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
One can change settings but one cannot change the default unless edit source and compile. Almost no one does this. What is "real" privacy. There is no small amount of telemetry by default in Firefox, far more than Chrome. Unless one changes each of these settings, Mozilla collects data about Firefox users. Defaults can only be changed by editing the source and compiling Firefox. Almost no one does this.
- gitaarik 3y ago
  Telemetry and Google as a default search engine are two different things. Also Telemetry doesn't collect any personal data, it's used for anonymous Firefox usage statistics to improve their product. And it's something Firefox asks you to opt in/out when you install Firefox.
  - gitaarik 3y ago
    And regarding: "One can change settings but one cannot change the default unless edit source and compile. Almost no one does this." There are some popular Firefox forks that have several improvements over security and privacy. Check LibreWolf and Waterfox for example.
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
  What is telemetry. What is its function. Its function is to share information with Mozilla. Without telemetry, Mozilla does not have access to this information. But what if the computer user does not care to share information with Mozilla. Information such as: (a) IP address (b) the software is used/when the user is online (c) the user's preferred websites (d) how the software is used (e) settings the user changes or does not change and so on. This is information sharing with Mozilla by default. It is not "opt-in". It is "op-out".
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
  Note the difference between (a) the user making changes to Firefox and compiling her own customised version and (b) hoping that someone else compiles a custom version and makes all the user's preferred changes to the source and removes all the defaults that the user wants removed. Option (a) offers the computer user some control. Option (b) is completely outside the control of the computer user. The best one can do with option (b) is hope that someone managing a "fork" has addressed all their concerns. Is having control useful for "real privacy". Is it useful for data collection and surveillance. Who should have control. Firefox has over 37 million lines of code. The compiled program requires hundreds of megabytes of storage space. Based on LOC and binary size it is larger than the Linux kernel. Compiling Firefox on "average" computers will take hours and will require a powerful computer. It is not an easy process and can easily fail due to its numerous dependencies. I use a text-only browser that compiles in less than a minute on an older, underpowered computer to a 1.2 MiB static binary. There are no mandatory dependencies. It is from this browser that I type and submit this reply.

1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago

One can change settings but one cannot change the default unless edit source and compile. Almost no one does this. What is "real" privacy. There is no small amount of telemetry by default in Firefox, far more than Chrome. Unless one changes each of these settings, Mozilla collects data about Firefox users. Defaults can only be changed by editing the source and compiling Firefox. Almost no one does this.

gitaarik 3y ago
Telemetry and Google as a default search engine are two different things. Also Telemetry doesn't collect any personal data, it's used for anonymous Firefox usage statistics to improve their product. And it's something Firefox asks you to opt in/out when you install Firefox.
- gitaarik 3y ago
  And regarding: "One can change settings but one cannot change the default unless edit source and compile. Almost no one does this." There are some popular Firefox forks that have several improvements over security and privacy. Check LibreWolf and Waterfox for example.
1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
What is telemetry. What is its function. Its function is to share information with Mozilla. Without telemetry, Mozilla does not have access to this information. But what if the computer user does not care to share information with Mozilla. Information such as: (a) IP address (b) the software is used/when the user is online (c) the user's preferred websites (d) how the software is used (e) settings the user changes or does not change and so on. This is information sharing with Mozilla by default. It is not "opt-in". It is "op-out".
1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago
Note the difference between (a) the user making changes to Firefox and compiling her own customised version and (b) hoping that someone else compiles a custom version and makes all the user's preferred changes to the source and removes all the defaults that the user wants removed. Option (a) offers the computer user some control. Option (b) is completely outside the control of the computer user. The best one can do with option (b) is hope that someone managing a "fork" has addressed all their concerns. Is having control useful for "real privacy". Is it useful for data collection and surveillance. Who should have control. Firefox has over 37 million lines of code. The compiled program requires hundreds of megabytes of storage space. Based on LOC and binary size it is larger than the Linux kernel. Compiling Firefox on "average" computers will take hours and will require a powerful computer. It is not an easy process and can easily fail due to its numerous dependencies. I use a text-only browser that compiles in less than a minute on an older, underpowered computer to a 1.2 MiB static binary. There are no mandatory dependencies. It is from this browser that I type and submit this reply.