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For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

heise.de

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Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#361
post #300

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing ads outside likely doesn't harm you though, you can ignore them. If your city is plastered with ads to a point at where you can't stand it you can always move, that's just another part of a city that someone may decide they don't like and want something different. > Almost all websites have been tailored to include ads and hide information. You're tracked on all devices you touch. That's really the crux of it…

> Seeing ads outside likely doesn't harm you though, you can ignore them. Just for a different perspective, I can't ignore them. I read more-or-less all text that comes into my field of vision, and cannot help but look at bright flashing lights. To my knowledge this isn't recognized anywhere as a disability (though it is associated with a standard diagnosis). For me, and presumably others like me, flashing road signs…

> To my knowledge this isn't recognized anywhere as a disability (though it is associated with a standard diagnosis)

I have the same issue, and I strongly suspect it has to do with my ADHD. I absolutely hate ads in pretty much all forms.

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate Ladybird's initiative. But if they work with Servo, Ladybird can build the browser and Servo can focus on the engine. Also we can avoid C++ nightmare. Everybody wins.

Ladybird is all about the engine. It's progressing faster than servo

In what way? Rendering pages CSS compatibility? I tried servo on Windows and it worked, not so much for Ladybird - granted, I wasn't feeling up to task of compiling it for Windows.

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#363

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox has 3% market share. Completely refusing to engage with your enemies only works when you have the actual guns to back that attitude up. If you refuse to engage with the ad industry they just ignore you. Oh and the company that owns a large part of the world's ad industry and owns the browser that has 65% market share also pays like 90% of your bills. I mean, what's step two of your glorious plan to charge fis…

Firefox playing their game makes Firefox completely redundant. The advertisers get your data either way, so why not use Chrome? Firefox compromising heralds its own irrelevance.

> The advertisers get your data either way, so why not use Chrome?

You might believe that the advertisers get less of your data if you use Firefox.

Similarly: you might be less likely to have your house burgled if there are locks on the doors and a burglar alarm, even though people with those things still get burgled sometimes. You might be less cold outdoors in winter if you wear a parka, even though it's still cold. You might be less bored if you buy/rent/stream some interesting books, music and movies, even though having those doesn't guarantee never being bored. You might be less likely to lose your next chess game if you practice tactics and learn openings, even though you'll still lose if you play Magnus Carlsen. You might be less likely to have a heart attack or stroke if you take those antihypertensives the doctor prescribed you, even though those are still tragically things that can happen to anyone. Etc., etc., etc.

Very few things are absolute and perfect. It's usually a matter of "less" versus "more".

This latest thing gives advertisers more information about me than they would have if Firefox didn't do it. (Unless I turn it off, which in fact I have done.) It doesn't give them very much information about me. I'm pretty sure they would get much more information about me if I switched to using Chrome (e.g., because Firefox supports better adblockers).

For the avoidance of doubt, I do think Mozilla should have made more noise about what they were doing, I do think there's a repeated pattern of them putting things into Firefox that their users don't really want and hoping no one will notice[1], I do think that says something bad about how Mozilla is run, and I would be happier if the Firefox project were run by people less inclined to do such things. But none of that means that you might as well use Chrome instead of Firefox, if you happen to value the things that Firefox still does better than Chrome.

[1] Actually, I think they know perfectly well that some users will notice, and they've decided it's overall better PR to do the thing quietly, wait for people to complain, and then say "oh, whoops, we should have been more open about this, we're so sorry and will totally not do the same thing again in six months".

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#364

So where can I donate to Ladybird browser development? Before anyone tries to respond with it. It is https://donorbox.org/ladybird

Thanks. I just donated to Ladybird and Servo. Here's the Servo link: https://servo.org/sponsorship/

Is there any reason to believe that the Servo project will produce a full independent browser, rather than a browser engine as their website states? The only likely outcome is that it be used in Firefox...

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#365
post #54

So where can I donate to Ladybird browser development? Before anyone tries to respond with it. It is https://donorbox.org/ladybird

Why Ladybird? Why not Servo?

Isn't Servo a new rendering engine for Firefox? How does it fix all of Firefox's problems, that are not engine limitations?

You can make a free web browser from Firefox's current engine just as easily as from Servo, I would fund the person who does that.

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#366

If you want to disable this, instructions are given here[1] but 1) Hamburger menu -> Settings -> Privacy & Security 2) scroll down to the new section entitled "Web Site Advertising Preferences". 3) Make sure the box marked "Allow web sites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement" is not checked. [1] https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/privacy-preserving-attr...

Thanks for providing these instructions. My usual way to get to some setting in Firefox is to use the search box but it seems that Mozilla is actively hiding this one by excluding it from search, ie if you type "advertising" into the settings search box then there are no results.

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AGPL is the way.

AGPL is a lawyer’s nightmare. Not just because of the restrictions - but because it’s very, very sloppily put together. Does connecting a AGPL-licensed database to your website make your whole website AGPL? What is the line between an innocent connection, or a viral integration? What happens if you add a proprietary protocol to the database specifically for your app? Do you need to open source it, if that database is…

The AGPL also turns what was distribution license (GPLv3) in to a EULA which kind of contradicts freedom zero of the GNU philosophy.

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#368

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox is dependent on Google for ages, that should tell you all you need to know about "conspiracies". I am not interested in a discussion with a person who gives the benefit of the doubt of a company who has clearly not only made a Faustian deal but is now looking to expand partnership with the people that nobody wants tracking their machines and activities. Because as we both know, in the entire history of humani…

Well, no, that doesn’t tell us anything about conspiracies. That’s just Mozilla getting money from Google. You can argue that it’s problematic from the stance of Google using Firefox to argue they don’t hold a monopoly - and I’d agree with you there. That deal with Google isn’t enough to leap to the conspiracy theory here though. The ad industry isn’t going away, Mozilla seems to want to try to make it work for all p…

> That’s just Mozilla getting money from Google.

“That’s just politicians getting money from financial criminals.”

“That’s just police getting money from organized violence.”

“This is fine.”

Re: For advertising, Firefox now collects user data by default

#369
post #351
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, that's why I've donated to the LadyBird project.

It's just weird that ladybird is picking ideological hills to die on, such as "no gender neutral pronouns"[1] [1] https://github.com/SerenityOS/serenity/pull/6814

You're not gonna die pissing off 0.1% of the population.
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