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Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

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Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#111

Post by bombcar »

freediver wrote: post #75
thriftwy wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yandex Browser, a custom Chrome build, is doing very well both on desktop and mobile. However, it has a slew of useful features tailored for its audience (perhaps reminding of "big apps" of Asia) while also leveraging all kinds of ways to get installs such as bundling, etc. I'm just not sure what are the selling points of Mozilla Firefox in 2022. They discontinued their plugins to be like Google Chrome and enforce th…

It would be cool if every Chromium clone had a page where they explain how is the browser different to standard Chromium. Many of them feel like rebuilding Chromium with something like sed -i 's/Chrome/MyBrowserName/g'

One of them (Brave?) did actually have a list of patches since the source was actually patches against Chromium.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#112

Post by oreilles »

Wowfunhappy wrote: post #23
weikju wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Regarding keychain for password filling, you can choose to disable it in the settings -> passwords -> options. It’s selected by default but if you tap it it will deselect it.

It would be nice if it disabled itself when another password manager is installed...

Keychain is opt-in, users choose wether they want to use it or not when configuring their iPhone for the first time.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#114

Post by iggldiggl »

bastardoperator wrote: post #74
arnvald wrote: post #3

They're right, recently I've installed some Windows update for my parents and I had to reject like 5 suggested changes - installing Office trial, switching default browser to Edge yet again, and more. But this goes way beyond the browsers - I've never explicitly installed Keychain on my iphone and yet it shows as an option next to 1password every time I fill in a password field. Google calendar asks me to install an…

So, you weren't forced and instead opted out is what you're saying here in your opening sentence?

For a few things (the one thing I'm familiar with is the lock screen if you've left the "show random pretty pictures" option turned on, but I think there are a few more places besides that) Microsoft does force links to open in Edge instead of the default browser.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#115

Post by oreilles »

arnvald wrote: post #3

They're right, recently I've installed some Windows update for my parents and I had to reject like 5 suggested changes - installing Office trial, switching default browser to Edge yet again, and more. But this goes way beyond the browsers - I've never explicitly installed Keychain on my iphone and yet it shows as an option next to 1password every time I fill in a password field. Google calendar asks me to install an…

Keychain is opt-in. If you have it configured on your iPhone, it's because you accepted it when configuring your iPhone for the first time. You had to choice to refuse it - and you still have the possibility to disable it in your iPhone settings.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#116

Post by footlose_3815 »

arnvald wrote: post #3

They're right, recently I've installed some Windows update for my parents and I had to reject like 5 suggested changes - installing Office trial, switching default browser to Edge yet again, and more. But this goes way beyond the browsers - I've never explicitly installed Keychain on my iphone and yet it shows as an option next to 1password every time I fill in a password field. Google calendar asks me to install an…

[dead]

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#117

Post by shultays »

ravenstine wrote: post #71

What exactly are these companies supposed to do? Web access really is the meat behind modern OS usage. Say what you want about Microsoft, but that's exactly what they realized when they began shipping Internet Explorer with Windows (and got into hot water over it). Safari can't be deleted from iOS, but aspects of Safari are integral to the OS. As long as someone can use another web browser for actual web browsing, as…

The questionable part is them re-asking "hey kid, wanna switch to Edge? we are cool now" after some updates.

I doubt your regular Firefox user falls for it but your parent's computer that you installed Firefox on will

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#118

Post by r3trohack3r »

KerrAvon wrote: post #41
smoldesu wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess is that the government realized that FAANG makes for better bedfellows than sworn enemies. They can wave economic incentives in front of their face in exchange for international power beyond what other countries can offer. Having Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft under your thumb gives you control over ~80% of the internet and <95% of all PII. There is obviously a domestic interest in controlling that, so…

define "the government" -- who and what exactly is controlling this supposed policy?

I mean... It's pervasive? Many elected officials across both parties in the United States have advanced the surveillance state and have passed legislation at the behest of 3 letter agencies. Of the last 4 presidents, 3 were pretty involved with advancing it: Bush, Obama, and Biden. I don't know if Trump did anything to advance the surveillance state.

Bush+Cheney did the PSP: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President%27s_Surveillance_Pro...

The courts found that unconstitutional: https://www.aaup.org/brief/aclu-v-nsa-493-f3d-644-6th-cir-20...

Obama publicly condemned the Patriot Act, but extended it in 2015: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Freedom_Act

Meanwhile Obama's VP (Joseph Biden) claims to have written the Patriot Act: https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4876107/user-clip-joe-biden-w...

In '91, the FBI got Joseph Biden to introduce a bill banning encrypted cellphone calls in the United States (Subtitle B: Electronic Communications): https://www.congress.gov/bill/102nd-congress/senate-bill/266

This move by Joseph Biden was condemned by the founder of the EFF: https://www.eff.org/pages/decrypting-puzzle-palace

You can watch a gaggle of senators from both parties go to bat defending the PSP in 2013 here: https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-hearing-fi...

After the PSP was found to be unconstitutional, you can watch another gaggle of senators from both parties go to bat defending the PSP in 2017 here: https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/hearings/open-hearing-fi...

A notable quote from the above video from Senator Wyden suggests the 3 letter agencies are harvesting location data in mass from cellphone towers.

You see surveillance legislation move forward with support from both parties - often under the guise of protecting children or stopping terrorists. It's not a stretch to connect the dots between our 3 letter agencies working with legislators in the background to advance the surveillance state, and those legislators simultaneously working with MAANG on multiple fronts, to assume there is some level of crossover with the surveillance agenda. It would be more unreasonable to assume they keep their surveillance objectives isolated from their interactions with industry after the Snowden revelations - which showed us that they absolutely worked with industry to collect PII of U.S. citizens in mass.

Re: Mozilla claims Apple, Google and Microsoft force users to use default browsers

#120

Post by shultays »

butterNaN wrote: post #91
spideymans wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Does Firefox have a future? Well, mobile is the future of computing. Does Firefox have a future on mobile? I think the answer is clearly no. Firefox will be relevant only until the Desktop PC paradigm fades into obscurity. Eventually Chrome and Safari will join Firefox in obscurity, as more content moves behind apps and walled gardens, and as the desktop paradigm falls into disuse. Give it 10 years.

Firefox on android is an objectively superior experience.

I would say "it was". After that major update a while ago, I lost hope on Firefox mobile.
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