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According to the article this phone home feature activates even when you uncheck all the share options.

by samspot 11y ago

talmand 11y ago
But at that point, what exactly is it phoning home about? If it's still sharing the data you explicitly refused to share, then that's one thing. If it's simply asking home if there's an update, then that's something totally different.
- bsder 11y ago
  No, it's not. Firefox is managing extension updates already. As an app developer, you don't need to know this data. As a security surface, you really don't want this data in real-time. It makes you a target. I presume the problem is that Firefox isn't sharing this install/update data with the extension developers. So, they're trying to collect it themselves.
  - talmand 11y ago
    So, you are saying that every single extension in existence uses Mozilla's update feature and doesn't have an internal system for updating? Because it seems to me I've seen a few that seem to update themselves with no involvement of the add-on panel of Firefox.
  - mook 11y ago
    Getting updates published on the Firefox add-on site takes a few weeks [1], and as I understand it (haven't needed to do it myself recently) queuing a new version bumps you all the way to the back of the line. If the add-on needs to update non-code things (such as what sites to block) on a shorter time frame having its own service is pretty necessary. See also the various lists adblock plus / uBlock / lightbeam use. Or for that matter the safe browsing lists Mozilla uses instead of shipping it in a new version of the app. (I still don't use Ghostery because their relationship with the advertising industry freaks me out, but that doesn't mean I have to be critical of them about the list updates.) [1] latest status update seems to be https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/04/08/add-ons-update-63/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/04/08/add-ons-update-63...

According to the article this phone home feature activates even when you uncheck all the share options.

by samspot 11y ago

According to the article this phone home feature activates even when you uncheck all the share options.

But at that point, what exactly is it phoning home about? If it's still sharing the data you explicitly refused to share, then that's one thing. If it's simply asking home if there's an update, then that's something totally different.

bsder 11y ago
No, it's not. Firefox is managing extension updates already. As an app developer, you don't need to know this data. As a security surface, you really don't want this data in real-time. It makes you a target. I presume the problem is that Firefox isn't sharing this install/update data with the extension developers. So, they're trying to collect it themselves.
- talmand 11y ago
  So, you are saying that every single extension in existence uses Mozilla's update feature and doesn't have an internal system for updating? Because it seems to me I've seen a few that seem to update themselves with no involvement of the add-on panel of Firefox.
- mook 11y ago
  Getting updates published on the Firefox add-on site takes a few weeks [1], and as I understand it (haven't needed to do it myself recently) queuing a new version bumps you all the way to the back of the line. If the add-on needs to update non-code things (such as what sites to block) on a shorter time frame having its own service is pretty necessary. See also the various lists adblock plus / uBlock / lightbeam use. Or for that matter the safe browsing lists Mozilla uses instead of shipping it in a new version of the app. (I still don't use Ghostery because their relationship with the advertising industry freaks me out, but that doesn't mean I have to be critical of them about the list updates.) [1] latest status update seems to be https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/04/08/add-ons-update-63/ https://blog.mozilla.org/addons/2015/04/08/add-ons-update-63...