Live data from Hacker News

Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

blog.mozilla.org

111–120 of 278 posts

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#112

The article starts with: "It’s been several weeks since I was promoted to Senior Vice President of Firefox, responsible for overall Firefox product and web platform development." How is this relevant? Did Dave Camp's SVP appointment trigger these changes? Honest question, because this is the first sentence of the article and I'm having a hard time understanding why. Tracking protection is great though. I hope Firefox…

The dev for these features started a long time ago, notably by Monica Chew as Roc reminds us (https://twitter.com/rocallahan/status/1136041917404160000). More recently Ehsan Akhgari has been instrumental in pushing to the shipping line. Kudos to all!

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#113
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personal use aside, I've been meaning to try out firefox for development after seeing some of their release announcements here. Any tips for people like me who are accustomed to chrome devtools? Are there some things you can do in firefox that you can't in chrome, and vice versa? I do look forward to the chrome devtools release videos, always learn something new.

It depends on what you do on a daily basis. There are definitely things you can't do in Firefox - chrome://inspect, for example, which is how a JS dev can debug their Jest tests (though for these workflows you can just pop Chrome or Chromium open for a moment). Otherwise, Firefox has the better API for add-ons and a more 'open' approach in general, so there are a lot more things you can't do on Chrome that you can in…

If you dev using the chrome devtools protocol client (like using intellij, see https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/integrating), you won't be able to do the same on Firefox ATM.

Edit: I'm mistaken - apparently you can : https://docs.firefox-dev.tools/backend/protocol.html ... So no reason to use chrome as a primary browser or development browser.

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to switch to safari. What do you use for ad-blocking?

UBlock Origin supports Safari: https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.el1t.uBl...

This hasn't been updated in over a year (last commit Apr 2018). Personally, I use Wipr from the App Store because it's very cheap. AdGuard is also an option.

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#115
post #4

It is funny how my browser preferences has changed over last 5 years. 2014 me as a developer had Chrome as number 1 browser for both development and all rest. Firefox once a month just to check cross browser compatibility. And Safari was just installed without me using it. 2019 me uses Safari for everything except development. Excellent power consumption and UX. Firefox for development. And lastly Chrome for all web…

It would be nice if right-clicking on links gave an option of opening it in another browser. That would make it easy to stick to a multi-browser setup.

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#116
post #110
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't that defeat the purpose of MFA?

If they already have your phone, you're already pwned.

>If they already have your phone, you're already pwned.

No, that's not what GP means. If the attacker manages to get malware on the Mac, for example by exploiting a browser 0day, then the attacker can simply circumvent the 2FA by making the Mac fetch the 2FA code. The user won't notice it.

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#117
post #34

I've dumped Chrome altogether since FF 67 was released. My only gripe is they still aren't blocking ALL ads, but regardless it's a way better user experience now than it ever was. Firefox 67 feels like a whole new beast compared to their older versions. If you haven't tried FF for a while I recommend doing so and I suggest trying it across multiple devices. The tab management, syncing, pinning and sending etc. across…

They can't and likely won't ever block ALL ads because they are funded through a search contract with Google. The whole point of that contract is to drive ad revenue.

As netizens, is there a way to replace Mozilla's dependence on another private company for revenue? Govt grants? Or is merely donations the only way?

Re: Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default

#118
post #108

I like these updates just as much as everyone else, but I can't help but think they seem a little bit like biting the hand that feeds you. What will they do when Google decides against renewing their Firefox search contract? Mozilla is highly dependent on the hundreds of million of dollars this contract provides. The politics of this situation are interesting for sure.

Mozilla's #1 priority is not to piss off Google, so I'm sure there was a conversation before this happened. Besides, when it comes to money, Google profits many times over whatever payout they give Mozilla.

I'm certain that Firefox not shipping a default adblocker is a compromise they made to get that revenue from Google.
Post reply on HN