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Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

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Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#71

Post by lucideer »

gcp wrote: post #24
davb wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I'm interested in browsers who's developers wouldn't have done this in the first place - a browser which has privacy as a core principle and who's develop we wouldn't consider pushing any data, regardless of aggregation or commercial value, to a third party without explicit consent..

"performance, broad compatibility with websites" These are things which are greatly helped by having good analytics (Telemetry for the browser, analytics on your sites). You have to realize that to some extent these goals aren't mutually compatible. Developer resources don't appear out of thin air, even for open source software. Note how in the threads Mozilla explicitly acknowledges alternatives to GA.

I opt(ed) in to Firefox Telemetry for this reason (and will in future if this bug is satisfactorily fixed). I did not expect that would mean sending my data to 3rd parties I don't trust.

Your comparison is a false equivalence, because it's not about telemetry vs privacy, it's about consent. If Mozilla devs adhered to the ethos of the company they took a job at they simply would not have implemented this feature.

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#72

Post by potch »

rdtsc wrote: post #64
gcp wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending these requests with TP enabled (i.e. in private browsing) is a plain bug as far as I'm concerned.

Granted disguising things as a bug is also one of the sneakier and better ways to implement the feature if that was the intent to begin with ;-)

Given that the discussion in the issue is "hey let's use DNT/tracking protection as a signal to not load this", assume we're looking at a reasonable mitigation here and that this was at worst an oversight.

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#73

Post by dpcx »

tombrossman wrote: post #39

Google Analytics T&Cs[0] make it explicitly clear that users must disclose to visitors that they use it. "You must post a Privacy Policy and that Privacy Policy must provide notice of Your use of cookies that are used to collect data. You must disclose the use of Google Analytics, and how it collects and processes data." I know many people ignore it just like with all the other "I agree" check-boxes that pollute webs…

To be fair, there's a link to the Mozilla Privacy Policy at the bottom of every add-on page, that explicitly states that they may use analytics (and even names Google Analytics).

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#74

Post by ssivark »

michaelt wrote: post #22

Given Firefox's pro-privacy positioning vs Chrome [1] and the fact that, by virtue of being in about: these requests get sent even if the user is browsing in private browsing mode or has extensions installed explicitly to block this kind of traffic [2] it's surprising the Mozilla employees in that thread are so keen to dismiss this. [1] https://mobile.twitter.com/meatcomputer/status/8813107782251... [2] https://githu…

I can understand @tofumatt's desire to restrict that Github thread to the specific problem and its fix.

However, given Mozilla's recent advertizing attempts slinging mud at Google/Chrome, it seems like they're asking for their credibility to be shredded publicly, in the media. This is an important enough matter that it deserves immediate escalation, to get a clear and coherent response at the organizational level that is communicated convincingly to users. Anything short of that (especially a simple local bug fix) risks winning the battle but losing the war, as Firefox's fundamental selling point now seems duplicitous and disingenuous.

I sincerely hope that Mozilla/Firefox developers have the vision to recognize that, and consider this matter of utmost importance. All the features and technical improvements they might hope to ship in the next several months are irrelevant compared to this single issue.

To me, this debate is a great example of a situation where an organization must be guided by its core principles -- not by what seems convenient in each specific instance.

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#75

Post by jshelly »

pavement wrote: post #45

As I mentioned in #1107: we will not be removing analytics support entirely. It is extremely useful to us and we have already weighed the cost/benefit of using tracking. https://github.com/mozilla/addons-frontend/issues/1107 Ew. Firefox, I am ashamed to know you.

Deleted based on similar response below.

"Which browser should I use"

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#76

Post by anonymousab »

Opt-in by default seems so often an admission that not enough would go out of the way to enable it, and that they don't have enough faith in the importance of thr item in question as to introduce install/update friction and just ask users what they want.

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#77

Post by marcosdumay »

drdaeman wrote: post #57
snakeanus wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn't it be possible for a browser to implement js but simply not implement any functions that can be used to track you?

Like not implementing cookies, LocalStorage, screen resolution info, font enumeration, canvas, WebGL, WebRTC, etc etc? It's probably realistically possible to disable those with the existing browsers. Problem is, that will also break sites that expect you to have all those available. And it's said that there are too many of those (I never saw a proper analysis, though) Just consider: there are sites (one of my favori…

Firefox has an extension called "self destructing cookies" that implements those the way they should be done everywhere.

There is absolutely no need for font enumeration. A browser can decide do download fonts it does not have from the site (what will indeed open it to some tracking), or use another cache (with other, different tracking possibilities). But any way it chooses, it just needs to cache the fonts locally to avoid most of the tracking.

There's no reason for local storage to permit 3rd party tracking. WebRTC was a mistake, and WebGL although well meant is so complex that will never work well.

A lot of out javascript signature could be simply removed without any ill effects.

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#78

Post by potch »

Quick breakdown of what's going on here (I work at Mozilla, and have worked on the Add-ons site in the past):

The "Get Add-ons" view in Firefox is an iframe to a page hosted by addons.mozilla.org. AMO, as all Mozilla sites, use GA to collect aggregate visitor statistics. We negotiated a special contract with Google [1] to only collect a subset of data and that that data is only used for statistical purposes.

Google Analytics is only loaded when this view is loaded, and is not otherwise "inside" Firefox. I filed an issue [2] to make sure that our privacy policy is linked from the Get Add-ons view so users can be better informed.

Mozilla tries to walk a very thin wire to ensure that we have the data we need to make sure our products are working properly without being intrusive, and to let concerned users opt-out of even that baseline data collection.

[1] https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697436#c14 [2] https://github.com/mozilla/addons-frontend/issues/2789

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#79

Post by driverdan »

davb wrote: post #10

What browser should users opt for if they want performance, broad compatibility with websites and absolutely no tracking/analytics? Preferably open source and cross platform.

Use separation of concerns.

Block ads / tracking outside the browser, eg using a hosts blacklist: https://github.com/StevenBlack/hosts

This allows you to use any browser. I've found Firefox to be buggy and slow on OS X so I use Chrome. It's great on Windows though.

Re: Firefox tracks users with Google Analytics in the add-on settings

#80

Post by gcp »

rdtsc wrote: post #64
gcp wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sending these requests with TP enabled (i.e. in private browsing) is a plain bug as far as I'm concerned.

Granted disguising things as a bug is also one of the sneakier and better ways to implement the feature if that was the intent to begin with ;-)

It's more that the people implementing and reviewing the feature (cough) didn't expect about:* pages to end up loading frigging Google Analytics.
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