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Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

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Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#41

Post by sp332 »

MattBearman wrote: post #16
natmaster wrote: post #10

Chrome tracks your browsing history... why do people suddenly care when there's an addon for Firefox that does that?

I'd like to see some proof of that. Or in the words of Wikipedia, 'Citation Needed'

Chrome sends every keypress in the URL bar back too Google. http://www.google.com/chrome/intl/en/privacy.html When you type URLs or queries in the address bar, the letters you type are sent to your default search engine so the Suggest feature can automatically recommend terms or URLs you may be looking for.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#42

Post by CWuestefeld »

9999 wrote: post #40
fligtar wrote: post #39

I'm from the add-ons team at Mozilla. We've looked into the Ant Video Player and found that it does send information about websites users visit in order to power its ranking feature displayed for each website, and also includes a unique identifier in this communication. While this does not violate our policies, we do require it to be disclosed in the privacy policy and the add-on's description. We have contacted the…

You should create a policy that completely prohibits this behavior.

Not everyone has the same values as you. There's nothing inherently wrong with not caring if somebody knows where you surf, and being interested in the recommendations that their tool can provide.

Disclosure is good. Homogeneity and coercion are bad.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#43

Post by gyardley »

masklinn wrote: post #34

And that's why I have Little Snitch on my machine.

I have Little Snitch on my machine too, but I've set up a rule that allows my browser to make calls to port 80.

Are you saying you don't have a generic rule in place, and are instead using Little Snitch to approve calls to port 80 for every new domain you visit? If so, that'd certainly work, but it seems more than a little impractical.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#44

Post by redthrowaway »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #42
9999 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should create a policy that completely prohibits this behavior.

Not everyone has the same values as you. There's nothing inherently wrong with not caring if somebody knows where you surf, and being interested in the recommendations that their tool can provide. Disclosure is good. Homogeneity and coercion are bad.

Exactly. From what I can tell, there's not much difference between the information ant is collecting and that that's regularly sent back to Google from Chrome, except that the latter is likely even more invasive.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#45

Post by masklinn »

gyardley wrote: post #43
masklinn wrote: post #34

And that's why I have Little Snitch on my machine.

I have Little Snitch on my machine too, but I've set up a rule that allows my browser to make calls to port 80. Are you saying you don't have a generic rule in place, and are instead using Little Snitch to approve calls to port 80 for every new domain you visit? If so, that'd certainly work, but it seems more than a little impractical.

> Are you saying you don't have a generic rule in place, and are instead using Little Snitch to approve calls to port 80 for every new domain you visit?

Yes. And I do the same with cookies.

I do allow connections (and cookies) permanently to "trusted sites", but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#47

Post by 9999 »

CWuestefeld wrote: post #42
9999 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You should create a policy that completely prohibits this behavior.

Not everyone has the same values as you. There's nothing inherently wrong with not caring if somebody knows where you surf, and being interested in the recommendations that their tool can provide. Disclosure is good. Homogeneity and coercion are bad.

Very well, I suppose some people might want to be tracked like a bunch of cattle. In the event that someone does want to do this, then they should have to opt-in. The default should not be opt-out for something as invasive as this.

If Apple were caught doing this, there would be a hearing in front of congress.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#48

Post by 9999 »

redthrowaway wrote: post #44
CWuestefeld wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone has the same values as you. There's nothing inherently wrong with not caring if somebody knows where you surf, and being interested in the recommendations that their tool can provide. Disclosure is good. Homogeneity and coercion are bad.

Exactly. From what I can tell, there's not much difference between the information ant is collecting and that that's regularly sent back to Google from Chrome, except that the latter is likely even more invasive.

And why does Google's invasion of privacy make this okay?

This is why the governments of the world need to implement do not track laws.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#49

Post by CWuestefeld »

9999 wrote: post #48
redthrowaway wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. From what I can tell, there's not much difference between the information ant is collecting and that that's regularly sent back to Google from Chrome, except that the latter is likely even more invasive.

And why does Google's invasion of privacy make this okay? This is why the governments of the world need to implement do not track laws.

The very last thing we need is for the government to put more regulation on the Internet. The only thing that's kept their heavy hands from destroying things so far, is that they're also incompetent with technical issues.

Re: Firefox add-on with 7m downloads secretly tracks your browsing history

#50

Post by jimrandomh »

fligtar wrote: post #39

I'm from the add-ons team at Mozilla. We've looked into the Ant Video Player and found that it does send information about websites users visit in order to power its ranking feature displayed for each website, and also includes a unique identifier in this communication. While this does not violate our policies, we do require it to be disclosed in the privacy policy and the add-on's description. We have contacted the…

You should also require that AntRank be disabled while in private browsing mode.
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