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Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

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Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#91

Post by yawaworht1978 »

Certhas wrote: post #56
AegirLeet wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it really sucks. I've been using Firefox for 15 years or so but this shit is just so discouraging. Can't we have one piece of good software that doesn't try to shove "relevant" "suggestions" from "trusted" "partners" down our throats? I just want a browser that isn't controlled by the ad mafia.

A browser is expensive. Currently Firefox is funded (though not controlled) by Google's Ad business. I am all for them reducing their reliance on Google's Ad business. In this sense this is a step _towards_ what you want. I really really dislike them double speaking about this though.

But what if that idea is coming from Google? How many relevant partners does FF have?

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#92

Post by dkdbejwi383 »

AegirLeet wrote: post #46
eCa wrote: post #4

As someone who has used Firefox since v0.* I really, really, really dislike the language they have used lately. > relevant suggestions from our trusted partners The suggestions are not relevant to, and the partners not trusted by, me.

Yeah, it really sucks. I've been using Firefox for 15 years or so but this shit is just so discouraging. Can't we have one piece of good software that doesn't try to shove "relevant" "suggestions" from "trusted" "partners" down our throats? I just want a browser that isn't controlled by the ad mafia.

> Can't we have one piece of good software that doesn't try to shove "relevant" "suggestions" from "trusted" "partners" down our throats?

If you pay for it, yeah. But you can't have that and have the software be £free to use

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#93

Post by absove »

dropmann wrote: post #27
davidsergey wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. They should just state "It's an Ad". I doubt they actually going to try every product that they are advertising, to make wording "suggestion" be even close to the truth. That said, I don't understand, why would somebody use Firefox instead of Chrome, Edge, or Safari if they ad in-browser ads.

For example because Chrome treats Google cookies differently [1]? This is a red flag for people. With Firefox you at least know what you get. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18064537

Wasn't there some google cookie in firefox that couldn't be deleted at some point, related to safe browsing? Then when people kept complaining they just hid it from the UI? I honestly don't know what the situation is now though.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#94

Post by progval »

AegirLeet wrote: post #46
eCa wrote: post #4

As someone who has used Firefox since v0.* I really, really, really dislike the language they have used lately. > relevant suggestions from our trusted partners The suggestions are not relevant to, and the partners not trusted by, me.

Yeah, it really sucks. I've been using Firefox for 15 years or so but this shit is just so discouraging. Can't we have one piece of good software that doesn't try to shove "relevant" "suggestions" from "trusted" "partners" down our throats? I just want a browser that isn't controlled by the ad mafia.

> Can't we have one piece of good software that doesn't try to shove "relevant" "suggestions" from "trusted" "partners" down our throats?

A few don't, like VLC: https://www.reddit.com/r/bestof/comments/73dafr/vlc_creator_...

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#95

Post by abbe98 »

elaus wrote: post #57
57844743385 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s wrong with paying market rates for a CEO? Do you think they should find a CEO below market rates? Have you donated money to Mozilla or Wikipedia?

What salary does the CEO of Wikipedia get and would increasing their salary to "market rates" improve Wikipedia or make it more viable?

In 2019 the salary for Wikimedia Foundation's CEO was $387,770.

https://meta.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_salar...

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#97

Post by zelphirkalt »

flowck wrote: post #10

Can anybody think of a sustainable business model for companies that mean well for users? (Mozilla, Signal)

It is all over the comments here: People want to donate. They want to donate to specific products they like though, and not to the organization in general. Donations need to have a specific goal, like for example further development of Firefox and keeping it clean of stuff people do not want. When donations are not specific enough, like it seems to be the case with Mozilla, they run risk of being misused. Then the actual thing people want to support are not actually supported by their donation.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#98

Post by callahad »

Barrin92 wrote: post #36
rich_sasha wrote: post #6

It’s sucky and I particularly hate ads percolating to every part if my life, BUT how are they meant to support Firefox and other software without a revenue stream? Mozilla seems to attract criticism for how they run the whole operation, I can’t tell how correct it is, but even if they run it perfectly they still need revenue.

maybe go the other direction and try to cut expenses rather than trying to make more money? Firefox gets hundreds of millions from Google alone in royalties, that is not enough to build a web browser? Firefox has lost almost half of its users since 2010, yet it keeps burning more money every year. Run the company in a lean way, cut the fat, do one thing well. It's like Wikipedia, every year they seemingly find new in…

> Firefox gets hundreds of millions from Google alone in royalties, that is not enough to build a web browser?

Empirically, it is not. Even Microsoft gave up that chase. Browsers are staggeringly complex and expensive to build. Which may be an indictment of the Web itself, but in the absence of a simpler alternative (Gemini?), the Web we have is the Web we've got, and browsers have to meet it where it is.

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#99

Post by Leparamour »

eCa wrote: post #4

As someone who has used Firefox since v0.* I really, really, really dislike the language they have used lately. > relevant suggestions from our trusted partners The suggestions are not relevant to, and the partners not trusted by, me.

>The suggestions are not relevant to

"Relevant" is a code word for "we spy on your every move and also share your personal browsing behaviour with our many external partners to serve you relevant ads".

Re: Mozilla to put ads in Firefox address bar suggestions

#100

Post by _8j50 »

hsbauauvhabzb wrote: post #75
Adrig wrote: post #34

Meh, the feature is easily deactivable, the settings are clear and extensive. As far as ads go, it's one of the best implementations. Firefox still has no alternative in the privacy / user-centric space (don't mention Brave, I'm gonna get mad). Mozilla has done a lot for the web, I can give them some slack for exploring different revenue models. Still, I'm going to keep on eye for this kind of practices in the future…

Outsider here: whats wrong with brave? I haven’t touched it but have no reason to distrust it, happy for you to change that for me though

Brave is based on Chromium, it lacks some of the privacy centric features that are found in Gecko browsers. 1st party isolation,tracker blocking, containers, anti fingerprinting measures and SNI encryption are some things I can think of right now (maybe chrome as caught up now?)

Plus, Google controls Chromium and Firefox is literally the only alternative now. They push changes that are against or in in ignorance of of web standards because they can. Downstream browsers like brave,edge and opera basically have to accept whatever Google says. This isn't good for the web at all. Frankly there should be an anti-trust suit against Google for this because it is very anti-competitive.

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