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Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

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Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#41

Post by 50 »

no_time wrote: post #7
dotcoma wrote: post #3

Luckily, there’s a solution… https://librewolf.net/

It does indeed look superior. But getting the 2nd most important software on my PC from a group of randos with not even full names and God knows what level of opsec is just too scary even for me. I've been toying with the idea of setting up a build enviroment for LibreWolf myself but that would still require auditing the patches and their changes as they come in every day.

the librewolf maintainers are trustworthy - i know user fxbrit, the librewolf macos maintainer, is also, if i'm not mistaken, the macos maintainer of mullvad browser, the browser collaboration between mullvad vpn and tor

further reading, for anyone looking for an alt browser/config: arkenfox (af) v librewolf (lw) v mullvad browser (mb) from the af owner, mb maintainer, and lw, ff, & tor contributor: https://github.com/mullvad/mullvad-browser/issues/1#issuecom...

Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#43

Post by hulitu »

doubled112 wrote: post #26
archerx wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically Firefox was the "un-Mozillaed" version of the Mozilla browser back in the day and Firefox was released as the lean, unbloated, very fast version of the Mozilla browser and now we have come full circle. I have stopped using Firefox after using it daily for years because I was just so sick of their updates making things progressively worse.

Is the SeaMonkey project “active enough” for daily use? Could I go somewhat full circle? They update the engine from Firefox periodically, but the browser is a rather important part of security.

As a firefox and chrome replacement, no. It has difficulties with the new web standards and JS bloat. But for the rest of the internet is ok.

Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#44

Post by zorrolovsky »

joao_lopes wrote: post #17
zorrolovsky wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Mozilla misleads users with corporate-speak bs, telling them that they respect their privacy when in reality they have a history of doing anti-user nasty stuff. Today, the public is well aware that G, Meta, Amazon, Apple, etc... spy them and monetize their data to sell ads. So most people using products from those organizations know what to expect. What Mozilla does is worse than FAANG. They release anti-user…

Mozilla's tracking is not even in the same ballpark as Microsoft's and Google's. I agree that the hypocrisy is annoying but saying they're worse than FAANG is just wrong.

I see your point but... not sure if I agree. Here's an example:

Mozilla makes Google the default search engine in Firefox for all users. That's FAANG + misinformation + hypocrisy + perversity on my book.

Misinformation because you can´t be serious about privacy if your default search engine is Google. Hypocrisy because they position themselves as a privacy-focused product but they still push Google, Pocket, ads and other nasty stuff. Perversity because they emotionally manipulate users to make them feel safe, while at the same time they make them vulnerable to tracking.

Today I installed Firefox on my iPhone. When you launch the app, there's a child-like drawing of a smiling woman hugging the FF logo. A heading reads "Welcome to an independent internet". Subheading reads "Firefox puts people over profits and defends your privacy as you browse". Whatever you type on the URL bar connects you to Google. So... because of their defaults any user action will lead such user in exactly the opposite direction of what they were promised a second ago. That's perverse and disturbing.

I'm done with Mozilla and Firefox, they need to be exposed and shamed like any other FAANG orgs. I've been wishing and hoping they get things right but this behavior has now been going on for over a decade.

Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#45

Post by zorrolovsky »

kuroguro wrote: post #20
no_time wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does indeed look superior. But getting the 2nd most important software on my PC from a group of randos with not even full names and God knows what level of opsec is just too scary even for me. I've been toying with the idea of setting up a build enviroment for LibreWolf myself but that would still require auditing the patches and their changes as they come in every day.

> from a group of randos with not even full names Somehow I'd trust a group of randos more than most corporations

Me too... and this illustrates the sad state of the internet in 2023. Let's keep hope that things improve somehow in the future!

Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#46

Post by smoldesu »

zorrolovsky wrote: post #44
joao_lopes wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla's tracking is not even in the same ballpark as Microsoft's and Google's. I agree that the hypocrisy is annoying but saying they're worse than FAANG is just wrong.

I see your point but... not sure if I agree. Here's an example: Mozilla makes Google the default search engine in Firefox for all users. That's FAANG + misinformation + hypocrisy + perversity on my book. Misinformation because you can´t be serious about privacy if your default search engine is Google. Hypocrisy because they position themselves as a privacy-focused product but they still push Google, Pocket, ads and o…

> Mozilla makes Google the default search engine in Firefox for all users

Be still, my beating heart! Thank goodness Apple doesn't subtly push Google search on it's users or anything. Otherwise it might feel like you're throwing stones from a glass house.

> they need to be exposed and shamed like any other FAANG orgs

They're not a FAANG org. They are a nonprofit that publishes their code and optionally allows you to use their software.

The parent comment is right - whatever "misinformation + hypocrisy + perversity" you perceive Mozilla to be responsible has been done 100fold by your pick of any Fortune 500 company. If your largest demonstrable harm is "defaulting to Google" then we shall expose and shame every big tech org connected to AWS or GCP.

Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#47

Post by wkat4242 »

Rastonbury wrote: post #10

They will always let you turn it off, the way I see it is necessary evil for the greater good. The less reliance on daddy Google the better

Just let us pay for it directly then.

Instead of this roundabout thing with the "Mozilla Foundation".

I donate monthly to KDE and yearly to FreeBSD and I would pay for Firefox too if I could, but I want to pay for Firefox and not for all the other stuff they do.

Amd when I pay I want none of that ad stuff in it of course. Time for a Firefox Premium paid version.

Re: Alert HN: Mozilla puts advertising into Firefox AGAIN

#48

Post by i_have_an_idea »

smoldesu wrote: post #35
talonx wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds of the days when any complaint about a missing video codec in Linux used to be met with "write and compile your own kernel".

So... bearing this in mind, did Linux fail?

it did, on the desktop
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