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Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

bleepingcomputer.com

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Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#2

Post by alyandon »

I really wonder why Mozilla employees think it is acceptable to do that without informed consent for users running Windows. No one would tolerate Mozilla installing a binary in ~/bin/ and configuring it to be run via user crontab on Linux.

Oh well - time to go clean up my Windows installs. sigh

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#3

Post by musicale »

alyandon wrote: post #2

I really wonder why Mozilla employees think it is acceptable to do that without informed consent for users running Windows. No one would tolerate Mozilla installing a binary in ~/bin/ and configuring it to be run via user crontab on Linux. Oh well - time to go clean up my Windows installs. sigh

Does Firefox collect so-called "telemetry" data with real, informed consent, and with the default setting being "private?"

Or has Mozilla adopted a dark pattern where all the privacy-violating checkboxes are automatically "chosen" by default?

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#5

Post by Ghjklov »

sneak wrote: post #4

Wow, I had always assumed that Firefox didn’t use telemetry. This is worrisome. Is there a modern browser available that doesn’t try to spy on you?

Pretty much every time I've installed a fresh Firefox, all the telemetry is enabled by default. Opt out instead of opt in. Surprising considering what they sell themselves as.

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#6

Post by qplex »

musicale wrote: post #3
alyandon wrote: post #2

I really wonder why Mozilla employees think it is acceptable to do that without informed consent for users running Windows. No one would tolerate Mozilla installing a binary in ~/bin/ and configuring it to be run via user crontab on Linux. Oh well - time to go clean up my Windows installs. sigh

Does Firefox collect so-called "telemetry" data with real, informed consent, and with the default setting being "private?" Or has Mozilla adopted a dark pattern where all the privacy-violating checkboxes are automatically "chosen" by default?

Some telemetry is on by default, at least in the official releases.

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#7

Post by jlgaddis »

Instead of copying and pasting the registry entry into a text file, merging ("running") it, then deleting the text file, the following (PowerShell) command should do the same thing:

  New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox" -Name DisableDefaultBrowserAgent -PropertyType DWord -Value 1
To disable the scheduled task (if you simply delete it, it might "reappear" after Firefox is updated):

  schtasks.exe /change /disable /tn "\Mozilla\Firefox Default Browser Agent 308046B0AF4A39CB"
Or, you could simply disable the telemetry altogether and tell Mozilla that all this "opt-in by default" telemetry is bullshit.

Note: The above are untested as I don't run Windows (partly because of all the spyware -- excuse me, "telemetry" -- bullshit!).

(Edit: Sorry, changed forward slashes to back slashes.)

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#8

Post by lonelappde »

musicale wrote: post #3
alyandon wrote: post #2

I really wonder why Mozilla employees think it is acceptable to do that without informed consent for users running Windows. No one would tolerate Mozilla installing a binary in ~/bin/ and configuring it to be run via user crontab on Linux. Oh well - time to go clean up my Windows installs. sigh

Does Firefox collect so-called "telemetry" data with real, informed consent, and with the default setting being "private?" Or has Mozilla adopted a dark pattern where all the privacy-violating checkboxes are automatically "chosen" by default?

No checkboxes or confirmation on the common flow, just a little warning message on firstboot.

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#9

Post by 1996 »

jlgaddis wrote: post #7

Instead of copying and pasting the registry entry into a text file, merging ("running") it, then deleting the text file, the following (PowerShell) command should do the same thing: New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox" -Name DisableDefaultBrowserAgent -PropertyType DWord -Value 1 To disable the scheduled task (if you simply delete it, it might "reappear" after Firefox is updated): schtasks…

spyware that firefox seem to emulate quite well given these news.

BTW, your suggestions do not in the firefox I have:

New-ItemProperty : Cannot find path 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox' because it does not exist. At line:1 char:3 + New-ItemProperty -Path "HKLM:/SOFTWARE/Policies/Mozilla/Firefox" -N ... + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Policies\Mozilla\Firefox:String) [New-ItemProperty], ItemNotFoundException + FullyQualifiedErrorId : PathNotFound,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.NewItemPropertyCommand

ERROR: The specified task name "\Mozilla\Firefox Default Browser Agent 308046B0AF4A39CB" does not exist in the system.

Re: Firefox now tells Mozilla what your default browser is every day

#10

Post by 1996 »

Ghjklov wrote: post #5
sneak wrote: post #4

Wow, I had always assumed that Firefox didn’t use telemetry. This is worrisome. Is there a modern browser available that doesn’t try to spy on you?

Pretty much every time I've installed a fresh Firefox, all the telemetry is enabled by default. Opt out instead of opt in. Surprising considering what they sell themselves as.

edge seems the safer choice at the moment.
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