3 ms·

I assume you're referring to the default search engine deal? What influence does that have on Firefox's privacy features? How does it make Firefox not a "privac

by arp242 3y ago

I assume you're referring to the default search engine deal? What influence does that have on Firefox's privacy features? How does it make Firefox not a "privacy browser"?

Terretta 3y ago
> What influence does that have on Firefox's privacy? Don't you mean on your, the user's, privacy?
- arp242 3y ago
  Well, more like "Firefox's privacy features". I'll edit to clarify.
dotnet00 3y ago
Kinda skews their incentives heavily when that deal represents a large chunk of their revenue
- arp242 3y ago
  Why would it? Harvesting data is not even Google's entire revenue, and Google would be phenomenally stupid to mess with Firefox, because if that would get out it's major anti-trust headaches waiting to happen. What specifically did this influence, or is likely to be influenced? What specifically is made worse by this? There's always these vague accusations, but never any specifics.
  - jqpabc123 3y ago
    By default, Firefox makes it real easy to uniquely identify and track you, refuses to block ads and apparently, don't care much about marketshare. Wonder why? Details are readily available if you know how to search.
    - arp242 3y ago
      Any browser makes it easy to track you because that's how the web works and it's hard to fully prevent without significantly affecting compatibility and/or feature set. Firefox does have some "Enhanced Tracking Protection" features for this though. And (extensively) changing the content of webpages by default would be inappropriate for a mainstream browser; it's not their job to curate what you see, and this includes ads (for starters, it's not so easy to even classify what an "ad" is). These are just more vague accusations, and just as unencumbered by any evidence as your previous vague accusations were.
      - jqpabc123 3y ago
        Go here and see for yourself: https://coveryourtracks.eff.org https://coveryourtracks.eff.org
        arp242 3y ago
        And that is because of Googles influence on Firefox, how? You are not engaging with anything I said. I asked for evidence of Google's control over Firefox beyond "they have a search engine deal", and you seem unwilling or unable to provide it. Therefore I can only assume it does not exist and are simply making spurious claims for which no evidence exists.
        jqpabc123 3y ago
        Almost all their revenue comes from Goggle and you demand evidence that this influences them? How could it do otherwise? The lack of default privacy and ad blocking in Firefox is the evidence. The fact that Google continues to pay even as Firefox marketshare shrinks to irrelevance is evidence. The more pertinent question for potential users is evidence that it does not influence tbem. By any reasonable measure, default Firefox is not "the privacy browser".
      - Nextgrid 3y ago
        > it's not their job to curate what you see In this case why does the browser have a pop-up blocker? Or why does it warn about potentially malicious websites (via SafeBrowsing)? If it's not their job to curate what you see then it should show you the raw unfiltered badness of the web and let you deal with it yourself.

by arp242 3y ago

I assume you're referring to the default search engine deal? What influence does that have on Firefox's privacy features? How does it make Firefox not a "privacy browser"?

Terretta 3y ago

> What influence does that have on Firefox's privacy? Don't you mean on your, the user's, privacy?

arp242 3y ago
Well, more like "Firefox's privacy features". I'll edit to clarify.

dotnet00 3y ago

Kinda skews their incentives heavily when that deal represents a large chunk of their revenue

arp242 3y ago
Why would it? Harvesting data is not even Google's entire revenue, and Google would be phenomenally stupid to mess with Firefox, because if that would get out it's major anti-trust headaches waiting to happen. What specifically did this influence, or is likely to be influenced? What specifically is made worse by this? There's always these vague accusations, but never any specifics.
- jqpabc123 3y ago
  By default, Firefox makes it real easy to uniquely identify and track you, refuses to block ads and apparently, don't care much about marketshare. Wonder why? Details are readily available if you know how to search.
  - arp242 3y ago
    Any browser makes it easy to track you because that's how the web works and it's hard to fully prevent without significantly affecting compatibility and/or feature set. Firefox does have some "Enhanced Tracking Protection" features for this though. And (extensively) changing the content of webpages by default would be inappropriate for a mainstream browser; it's not their job to curate what you see, and this includes ads (for starters, it's not so easy to even classify what an "ad" is). These are just more vague accusations, and just as unencumbered by any evidence as your previous vague accusations were.
    - jqpabc123 3y ago
      Go here and see for yourself: https://coveryourtracks.eff.org https://coveryourtracks.eff.org
      - arp242 3y ago
        And that is because of Googles influence on Firefox, how? You are not engaging with anything I said. I asked for evidence of Google's control over Firefox beyond "they have a search engine deal", and you seem unwilling or unable to provide it. Therefore I can only assume it does not exist and are simply making spurious claims for which no evidence exists.
        jqpabc123 3y ago
        Almost all their revenue comes from Goggle and you demand evidence that this influences them? How could it do otherwise? The lack of default privacy and ad blocking in Firefox is the evidence. The fact that Google continues to pay even as Firefox marketshare shrinks to irrelevance is evidence. The more pertinent question for potential users is evidence that it does not influence tbem. By any reasonable measure, default Firefox is not "the privacy browser".
    - Nextgrid 3y ago
      > it's not their job to curate what you see In this case why does the browser have a pop-up blocker? Or why does it warn about potentially malicious websites (via SafeBrowsing)? If it's not their job to curate what you see then it should show you the raw unfiltered badness of the web and let you deal with it yourself.