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Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

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Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#161

Post by thyrox »

car_analogy wrote: post #62

Suppose you want to do something anonymously. 1. Download installer from Mozilla from your home network - Mozilla now has your home IP and installer ID. 2. Transfer it via USB key to a secure, anonymous computer - one not linked to you, on a network not associated with you, such as public WiFi. 3. Install Firefox using that installer on said computer. It transmits the installer ID to Mozilla, which matches the one gi…

You know I let a lot of important things in Firefox slide (like the poor Webspeech API support, bad text-to-speech, some missing extensions and a lot of other things) but I still make it a habit to use it over Chrome (and recommend it to everybody) as somewhere in my mind it feels like a small revolt against the giant evil Google corp.

But stuff like this and other shenanigans in the past (like Mr.robot, misuse of funding, etc) is really off-putting sometimes. It really makes me feel naive and just drinking the support open-source kool-aid.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#162

Post by perryizgr8 »

cf141q5325 wrote: post #21

From the linked bugzilla https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1677497#c0 >One note, in case it's not already clear: The download token will be available in the telemetry environment, but all web session data that it is linked to will NOT ever be included in telemetry, it is being deliberately kept in a separate data set, and we will be limiting access to the ability to join these data sets to a small set of p…

This is very alarming. If web session data will never be included in telemetry, why do some people have to ability to query joins? That means it can happen. Why does this small set of people need to access my web session data?

I don't use Firefox regularly, but I have it installed on my computers. I think I'm going to uninstall it completely. This stuff has become more and more common, and is totally unacceptable.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#163

Post by rtpg »

klntsky wrote: post #17

> This will allow us to track which installs result from which downloads to determine the answers to questions like, "Why do we see so many installs per day, but not that many downloads per day?" What value does Mozilla see in being able to do that?

That's an easy one, of course. By identifying a "commonly-used installer" (say, some installer stored by some IT team) you could then do things like say with more certainty "no, we do need older installers to keep working". Or reach out to mirrors that have decided to stop updating installers.

From an Ops perspective, having an idea of how your install base is installing your browser can have a lot of implications. And not having the information could easily lead you to accidentally breaking installations for large subsets of your users.

There's also content-market-y stuff involved, of course.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#164

Post by GekkePrutser »

shreddit wrote: post #123
kreeben wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but they advertise that "Firefox automatically protects your privacy while you browse". https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...

technically they did not lie. “While you browse” is clearly excluding the time whilst installing the browser.

Taken straight out of the "terms and conditions apply" fine print playbook :)

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#165

Post by GekkePrutser »

charcircuit wrote: post #134
kreeben wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but they advertise that "Firefox automatically protects your privacy while you browse". https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-prote...

It's possible that they are tracking how many times an installer gets used without violating your privacy. Installers can be shared online or you can install it on someone else's computer. It's not like they are specific to a person.

True but why? There just be a really heavy reason to introduce something like this. I don't see it.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#166

Post by Mathnerd314 »

car_analogy wrote: post #62

Suppose you want to do something anonymously. 1. Download installer from Mozilla from your home network - Mozilla now has your home IP and installer ID. 2. Transfer it via USB key to a secure, anonymous computer - one not linked to you, on a network not associated with you, such as public WiFi. 3. Install Firefox using that installer on said computer. It transmits the installer ID to Mozilla, which matches the one gi…

The mistake is at step 1 when you downloaded Firefox instead of Tor Browser.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#168

Post by GekkePrutser »

car_analogy wrote: post #91
zagrebian wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Mozilla need the IP address?

Why would they need installer IDs? The question is if they collect it, not if they need it, and all their other behavior suggests that they do collect it.

Also, if they don't collect it, what's the point in even having it?

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#169

Post by GekkePrutser »

zagrebian wrote: post #93
car_analogy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they need installer IDs? The question is if they collect it, not if they need it, and all their other behavior suggests that they do collect it.

The article explains why: to figure out why there are more installs than downloads.

The reasons are easily seen though. Corporate IT departments autodeploying, Linux packaging repos, people compiling from source.

Also, they could just ask, instead of adding more spyware. Like a survey.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#170

Post by rodamaral »

Mathnerd314 wrote: post #166
car_analogy wrote: post #62

Suppose you want to do something anonymously. 1. Download installer from Mozilla from your home network - Mozilla now has your home IP and installer ID. 2. Transfer it via USB key to a secure, anonymous computer - one not linked to you, on a network not associated with you, such as public WiFi. 3. Install Firefox using that installer on said computer. It transmits the installer ID to Mozilla, which matches the one gi…

The mistake is at step 1 when you downloaded Firefox instead of Tor Browser.

Some people use Tor within Firefox via a SOCKS proxy. This might defeat the protection given by Tor.
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