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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

#111

Post by gcp »

ssivark wrote: post #91
gcp wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the features and technical improvements they might hope to ship in the next several months are irrelevant compared to this single issue. Which "single issue" is that then? That AMO is using GA (and has been for years)? Or that TP doesn't work correctly for the in-browser UI? I'm going to have to disagree with you there.

They are both issues. My principal point is that they're all part of the same problem in the bigger picture, which is: Mozilla is breaking its privacy promises to its users . 1. Mozilla casts aspersions on Google/Chrome for not respecting users' privacy. (eg: recent billboard advertizements) 2. Mozilla doesn't respect users privacy because it uses tracking, that too third-party, that too from Google . Pot -> kettle -…

Siloing the GA data that is obtained from Mozilla (required by the contract Mozilla has with Google) would stop the privacy-breaking aspects (which exist due to aggregating over sites).

But this may be a case where even though Mozilla is technically doing the right thing, perceptions will tend the opposite way. Without that statement in that old bug, most people would never know the Mozilla GA data is siloed.

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

#112

Post by TekMol »

potch wrote: post #78

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 A…

    The "Get Add-ons" view in Firefox is an iframe
Please don't hide behind technical details. If click something in the browser and it causes Google to be notified, then you have send data about me to Google. Without my consent.

    privacy policy is linked from the Get Add-ons view
Nobody reads those and you know it. The reason people use Firefox is to not get tracked by Google.

Honestly, you hugely fucked up with this one. You lost a massive amount of trust with me that took years to grow.

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

#113

Post by snakeanus »

lucideer wrote: post #103
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?

Yes, but by "functions that can be used to track you", you're including user accounts, logins, forms, surveys, &c. The term "tracking" has become abstracted to a point where many forget that they usually want to be "tracked" (by hitting "reply" here on HN, YCombinator is "tracking" who I am - user account - and what I've written). If you'd be happy with a browser exclusively to view public, static content, then it co…

> Yes, but by "functions that can be used to track you", you're including user accounts, logins, forms, surveys, &c.

These are not javascript functions. All of these can be (and are) implemented without JS.

> but a component of the Firefox bug being reported here is that the extensions API used by uMatrix is failing to block GA in this particular case.

uMatrix and uBlock Origin fail to block GA only when using their web extension versions.

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

#114

Post by kuschku »

shostack wrote: post #97
AmVess wrote: post #66

Tofumatt wrote "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." Which reads a lot like "they are giving us a pile of money to breach your privacy, so to hell with you."

More like "it is really critical that we understand how users engage with our product and we need a solid way of tracking that. GA is practically an industry standard."

And the cookie notice is also an industry standard, so that I know on which sites to use uMatrix to manually block the scripts.

I didn't expect that I'd have to do that on an about: page.

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

#115

Post by prajjwal »

Users who care about privacy are, quite literally, the only demographic that cares about Firefox at this point. The numbers clearly say that. I'm not even remotely versed in how to run a business, but in what twisted universe does it make sense to alienate us?

I put up with Firefox's single threaded nonsense for years, with their outright refusal to properly implement hardware acceleration for Linux, and with their clearly inferior performance. And now I find out they've got Google Analytics on a page where uBlock Origin can't even block it (at least not post FF 56), and that doesn't even respect my telemetry settings (which I've obviously disabled). Every decision they've made lately seems to be targeted at gaining the attention of people who clearly couldn't be arsed to get off Chrome if they proved it gives you cancer, instead of making it better for people who are keeping it afloat.

Congratulations, Mozilla. You've put a whole bunch of us out on the lookout for a replacement. Enjoy your descent into obscurity.

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

#116

Post by amichal »

gcp wrote: post #108
eli wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not "obvious" that it violates either of those. The general consensus is that normal GA tracking alone does not meet the standards to trigger either the EU or the stricter Dutch cookie notification requirements since they are using first-party cookies not tied to PII and don't follow you across sites. And that's assuming a standard GA snippet, not the smaller subset of data Mozilla is collecting here. And the GA…

The general consensus is that normal GA tracking alone does not meet the standards to trigger either the EU or the stricter Dutch cookie notification requirements since they are using first-party cookies not tied to PII and don't follow you across sites Do you have a good reference for this? Especially the "don't follow you across sites" seems weird as Google will end up collecting hits from the same IP/browser/etc c…

I don't know what firefox addon pages does (and i see they have a special arrangement) and am not taking sides but for IP at least there is an option partially scrub it before it gets to disk at Google.

https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2763052?hl=en

Edit: what do we think?

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

#118

Post by hellbanner »

prajjwal wrote: post #115

Users who care about privacy are, quite literally, the only demographic that cares about Firefox at this point. The numbers clearly say that. I'm not even remotely versed in how to run a business, but in what twisted universe does it make sense to alienate us? I put up with Firefox's single threaded nonsense for years, with their outright refusal to properly implement hardware acceleration for Linux, and with their c…

What's your preferred alternative browser? Serious, I haven't found one I like yet.

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

#119

Post by gcp »

jakub_g wrote: post #105

Proposal: What about passing &track=false in the URLs to AMO/mozilla.org when user opted out from tracking in Fx settings / browses in private mode? And on server side, do not embed GA script in such case.

Simply respecting DNT (which is the fix that was proposed) works out to the same.

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

#120

Post by gcp »

kuschku wrote: post #117

The worst part of this is, this also applies to the Tor Browser, and might potentially help Google to de-anonymize Tor users: http://i.imgur.com/vdlFWYR.png

Why would this allow de-anonymization? Does the request not go through the Tor network?
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