Mozilla Controversy Exposed

I noticed on the new tab content of Firefox, one of them is for a shady "xtra-pc" product (link goes to https://getxtra-pc.io/offer-01/) like the "finallyfast" optimizer from last decade.

Have not observed it myself and even if I disable all ads, pocket etc. so the chance that I catch it is zero.

However I do not think the user is a liar as there is nothing to gain for him.

I doubt HN community will respond much because they advocate Firefox. You see that because they close 10x more duplicates than with Chrome, Brave or for that matter any other competition.

I warn here directly everyone, I am not interested in sentiments and off-topic discussions, I want to reveal the truth, if you have nothing useful to add then just do not respond here or I will lock this thread. I make it that simple.

Was pointless, china is known to censor, waste of money.

Smarter solution is to create an alternative store that bypass govt censorship.

Thanks to Mozilla we have now a precedence case which they will use to justify getting rid of adblockers. They did not think this trough. You should never go in court when there is huge chance that you will lose, as this can make things worse for you, or in this case all Chinese users.

Web must be open and accessible for everyone -- Pulls down extensions from the AMO.

Meaningless words and promises no one can and should hold because the web is not either 1 or 0.

Example in parts of China and Korea you cannot use encryption because govt directly bans it or blocks it, so it does not make sense to encrypt everything there unless your goal is to piss off the govt. Half think trough, but I did not expected much from Mozilla.

I also find such proposal in general questionable because some people see things different or do not want what Mozilla wants.

According to Blocky's test logs, restricted access initially began no earlier than March 8, 2022 and no later than March 19, 2022.

Users report: https://bgme.me/@bgme/107986773834355287 Testing results (by blocky.greatfire.org)

Before: https://blocky.greatfire.org/api/url_test_result/18800410?format=ooni

After: https://blocky.greatfire.org/api/url_test_result/18861443?format=ooni

Firefox starts blocking uBlock Origin and other ad-blocking add-ons in China on addons.mozilla.org

Affected add-ons that are known to be restricted

• https://addons.mozilla.org/zh-CN/firefox/addon/ublock-origin/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/zh-CN/firefox/addon/adguard-adblocker/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/zh-CN/firefox/addon/adblock-for-firefox/
• https://addons.mozilla.org/zhCN/firefox/addon/adnauseam/

Next scandal, this is what people accused Chrome of when Chrome project started.

Chromes RLZ, that was killed after criticism.

dltoken is tied to telemetry.

There are apparently several unique IDs that you only can reset but not remove.

clearPref(“app.normandy.user_id”);
clearPref(“browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.impressionId”);
clearPref(“toolkit.telemetry.cachedClientID”);

Update

Someone correctly pointed out that linux downloads from the official homepage don't have the dltoken.

Firefox 98.0.1 version is only concerned with removing Yandex search for users in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey, and switching them all to Google by default.

Original finding by vc.ru

• vc.ru based on a previous finding.
• Official page regarding search engine removal

Personal comment

• They could just make a deal with SearX which would help Mozilla and SearX but instead they go back as fallback to Google search because they still have a deal with Google. The ironic part is that most Firefox users do not want Google.
• The Bugzilla moderator could just changed and fixed the issue ticket name and make it clear what this is about but they did nothing here. I do not blame the creator of this particular issue ticket but the moderator who did not corrected it, which still misleads people.
• I also find it hypocritical that they, because of Ukraine War now pretend they give lots of f#s about the search engines and the involvement. That Yandex, Google etc are controversial search engine providers is known way before Ukraine. I understand that you want to show sympathies but this is not the correct way to approach and communicate things. The whole story is basically about taking away control from the users, I do not judge users or would restrict them from using xyz search engine but they see it different.

Later shut down.

Why did my search engine change?

This change is happening because Mozilla was unable to secure formal permission to continue including certain search engines in Firefox. We provided an opportunity to previously-included search engines to sign an agreement and the engines that did not complete the agreement will be removed from Firefox.

Not sure why you remove the engine and then force people to install plugins or extensions. Extensions and plugins are always critical, outdated or use useless resources.

Why not just add an option directly in the GUI do add this directly without depending on others, beyond me.

I also dislike how Chrome handles it, it is restricted and tighten up because people remove everything and then they complain afterwards because there is no reset button, thankfully after lots of pressure Chrome will address this but honestly the whole thing in every Browser is miserable handled.

Once you submit your information, our Data Removal partner, Kanary, will continuously scan for your information on known Data Removal and people search sites. Once your personal data is found on one of these sites, we automate the process of getting it removed. Sometimes, even if your data was removed from one of these sites, it may reappear at a later date. Data brokers and people search sites regularly collect data, and removal does not necessarily prevent many of these sites from sharing it again later.

Data removal is not guaranteed. At times, Data Removal requests cannot be completed or require additional steps. Even still, Kanary continues to work on removing your personal information. In the event that a request is On hold, manual removal instructions are shown in the bottom of the expanded card. These instructions provide another means to attempt removing your personal information from a data broker or people search site. The instructions are gathered from each specific site, and so vary depending on the site requirements.

In other words, give me your data I forward it to a unknown third-party and they cannot guarantee the removal.

Btw most search providers, normally every provider must comply with the law, which means you can contact them yourself without involving another third-party and request the removal. However, I admit finding those removal request formulas are actually hard. The reason why they are often hidden is to prevent abuse and if you use a normal business email you often only get a Bot answer back.

It killed me when I saw the gigantic Firefox button at the bottom after I read trough the movie Advertisement.

How does a movie help the Browser... I seriously doubt the motivation here.

“Chrome has won the desktop browser war,” says one former Firefox staff member, who worked on browser development at Mozilla but does not want to be named, as they still work in the industry. Their hopes for a Firefox revival are not high.

• Mozilla and Meta (FB) are working together on “privacy” ads

• Background

Before some emotions getting high on the title and the website, here are a few things coming from me

• Not my title of choice.
• I do not like this user or his page because he practical calls every Browser spyware, you do not need to believe me on this, just check other articles from him.
• He has some valid points but others are pure nonsense which is the reason I dislike the user, he often lacks proper research on topics he links he mentions.
• Do not make more drama out of it then it is. Thanks.
• Do not bash the author, it is his opinion. Valid findings are okay, of course. This also goes vice-versa, sure thing.

Update

• HackerNews Censors article that criticizes Mozilla - Re-Submission

In 2022 they merge pocket into Accounts.

Another fork that will die within 5 years, why they not adopt it into directly into normal browser is beyond me. Not much users use VR on a daily system anyway to experience the web trough it. That is maybe 1 percent of their entire user base.

Merge the code, reduce the clutter from this version and make it accessible trough the actual stable ring, so you do not need to depend on another project and everyone can decide to use and enable it or not.

• Overview
• Blog post

I was going to say… "This is awesome, but I wish they’d allow you to use any proxy settings with a container instead of requiring Mozilla VPN (even as someone who uses it.)"

Sounds awful lot like using the privacy argument to sell their own VPN because you can only install or and use Mozillas VPN with that. I hope they improve that, Brave wants to introduce the same crap. Pretty sure Vivaldi will also follow. Opera already got a VPN.

Also VPN is incorrect extension based tunnels are Proxies per-definition but I get that they call it VPN because their service is a VPN service and proxies usually have a negative sound to it because they have down-sides compared to VPNs.

Remember that Opera pulled the same stunt.

“Firefox can change your preferences (including those for telemetry) remotely, without having to resort to the standard update procedure:”

Years ago...

• Petition against DRM implementation
• Mozilla Firefox adopts Adobe's closed-source DRM
• Update on Digital Rights Management and Firefox
• Firefox without DRM
• On DRM and Firefox
• Brendan Eich posts on DRM support in Firefox
• Free Software Foundation Slams Mozilla Over DRM Decision

Community did not wanted it, Mozilla still did it. After they got down-talked they provided a workaround, they introduced eme builds without it.

I am a strong supporter of gay marriage, but I have to say that I find this very unfortunate and worrying. Apparently many Mozilla supporters seem to think it is okay to bully a qualified person out of his job only for his political views, even if they had absolutely no effect on his qualification or his actions on the job.

I can't help but feel like this campaign has done a lot more harm to him than his $1000 donation could have ever done to anyone.

Someones responds back from 2014 which I personally fully agree with. Private life and what you do as CEO, if it is not illegal are your own things unless it influences the products, which was not the case.

New CEO did much worse here in firing people, that did much more damage.