Is a desktop shortcut and dark theme really an "upgrade" to private browsing?
Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
91–100 of 321 posts
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#92Earlier quoted context omitted.
All telemetry at the very least transfers your IP address which is legally considered personal information. A browser can not therefore be considered privacy-respecting if it has telemetry turned on by default. Respecting users' privacy at a fundamental level is important for a tool that is our most intimate window to the web (a web browser) even if you personally have 'nothing to hide'.
Can you please describe a theoretical attack on your privacy by Mozilla learning that your IP address launched a Firefox instance?
Burden of proof is not on the user. Burden is on Mozilla (and any browser vendor with telemetry ON by default) to prove that:
1) They are not misusing collected information in any way
2) They need it so badly that telemetry is ON by default, without the explicit consent of the user
Both of these are simply addressed by having no telemetry by default and all browser telemetry being completely opt-in.
Given that IP address is legally considered private information and Mozilla claims that Firefox is privacy respecting, becoming a zero-telemetry browser by default should be a no-brainer move to substantiate that claim, othwerise it is just empty words that further detoriate the trust in Mozilla.
It should also be noted that every browser with telemetry ON by default (which is almost every mainstream browser) is also directly or indirectly monetized by ad-tech, which does not help their case at all.
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#93Why don’t you give power users at the very least in about:config an option to disable ALL phoning home by Firefox upon launch and exit. As it stands even with all telemetry off Firefox is extremely chatty and I’ve had Mozilla developers tell me they have no intention to fix this. You can profile this yourself on macOS with Charles Proxy (GUI) or mitmproxy (CLI). Until this is fixed all I can do is roll my eyes when I…
> Why don’t you give power users at the very least in about:config an option to disable ALL phoning home by Firefox upon launch and exit. Biggest reason I refuse to use Firefox no matter how bad Chromium is. I sometimes use Firefox Focus for doing searches on my phone and the thing is always pinging mozilla services. Some of them location related. No way to turn any of these off on what is supposed to be an incognito…
I find it hard to believe Chromium pings any less than Firefox. Would love to get more info on this.
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#94> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…
I observed the change in tone in Mozilla blog posts, from experts talking about their craft to marketspeak.
Even posts I should be professionally partial to, like those about UI design, rub me of the wrong way. It's often full of "creating delightful experiences" and "streamlining a seamless flow".
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
Firefox does offer an HTTPS only-mode, which tries to upgrade HTTP to HTTPS and warns you before connecting if it's not enabled. Settings > Privacy & Security > HTTPS-Only Mode As far as I know, there are still no practical attacks against TLS 1.2.
The issue I’d like to solve is that, even with TLS, you still leak the SNI as part of the handshake. So your ISP can tell you’re connecting to google.com even if you’re using HTTPS.
Wouldn't the ISP still know that you're connecting to Google, however?
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
> As it stands even with all telemetry off Firefox is extremely chatty and I’ve had Mozilla developers tell me they have no intention to fix this. What data is being communicated? What about that data is harmful to you? (Genuinely asking for more information, not trying to convince you you're wrong.)
> What about that data is harmful to you? Arguments like these always reminds me of the story where some town had a population register that included religion, and then the Nazis invaded. You don't know how or when the collected data will be misused, whether by the original owner, a malicious third-party breaching their systems, or the government (and even somewhat-stable governments can quickly turn sour, see Russia…
Do you have any source for that story? I also heard of it but don’t know if it’s made up or not and couldn’t find a source
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#97Why don’t you give power users at the very least in about:config an option to disable ALL phoning home by Firefox upon launch and exit. As it stands even with all telemetry off Firefox is extremely chatty and I’ve had Mozilla developers tell me they have no intention to fix this. You can profile this yourself on macOS with Charles Proxy (GUI) or mitmproxy (CLI). Until this is fixed all I can do is roll my eyes when I…
You can disable all phoning home. Have a look at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-stop-firefox-making...
Having a single setting that does all of this would indeed be nice.
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
The issue I’d like to solve is that, even with TLS, you still leak the SNI as part of the handshake. So your ISP can tell you’re connecting to google.com even if you’re using HTTPS.
Wouldn't the ISP still know that you're connecting to Google, however?
Your ISP would know the IP address, but not specifically that you were connecting to google.com.
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#99> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…
In Windows 3.11 you could choose all the colors you wanted for every part of the window rendering (and it wasn't called "limited edition" or whatever there either, and naming it limited edition in FF as in the image caption in the article doesn't inspire confidence to rely on this feature long term).
Nothing recent comes close to that, even Linux desktops make it hard to choose colors or how visible your scrollbars are if you prefer to actually see and use scrollbars (sometimes you can edit CSS files that get overwritten again each time you update your system).
Re: Firefox Private Browsing mode upgrade
#100> Last year we launched Firefox Colorways, a new desktop feature that allowed our users to express their most authentic selves and bring joy while browsing the web > “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision…
> “‘Independent Voices’ are the voices of the past and present that create a better future,” said Keely Alexis. “I chose this [analogy] as my inspiration for the collaboration because it feels authentic to me but it also aligns with Firefox and the vision that we can make the world better, on the internet and beyond.” Hooli is about people. Hooli is about innovative technology that makes a difference, transforming th…
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