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Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

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Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hopefully, it's a bug, and that addon wasn't intended to be installed (much less active) universally like it is. That doesn't make it OK, but it would make me look at them with suspicion instead of hostility.

>Hopefully, it's a bug, and that addon wasn't intended to be installed (much less active) universally like it is. hey look, a voice of reason! seriously. Mozilla is a company that has a long track record of dedication to openness and the free and open internet this isnt Google, facebook, etc let's all take a step back and give them a little benefit of the doubt here, until we get some facts on what happened. for ever…

I think this /r/pitchforkemporium stuff is better suited to Reddit than HackerNews.

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#143
post #97
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't just need "Studies" enabled, you also need to explicitly opt-in to each specific study on an individual basis: > Participation in an individual study is opt-in Source: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies If that didn't happen in this case, then I suspect it's probably a bug.

> you also need to explicitly opt-in Wrong, as far as I see: Looking in my about:config, I see app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled=true browser.onboarding.shieldstudy.enabled=true enabled by default . The settings that I've changed from the default are shown in bold. These aren't bold. Those are the defaults. Everybody can check. That means that the user must actively take steps to disable them, if he knows that they ex…

I speak from experience that a lot of FF users don't even know what about:config is or how to edit it.

It all seems sneaky and deliberately obtuse.

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#144
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mozilla went through a year long legal discussion with GA before we would ever implement it on our websites. GA had to provide how and what they stored and we would only sign a contract with them if they allowed Mozilla to opt-out of Google using the data for mining and 3rd parties. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=697436#c14 https://bug697436.bmoattachments.org/attachment.cgi?id=73207...

That's novel, going to so much effort to use a tracking service while proclaiming you are not tracking! Sounds like taking a shower without getting wet. I see you silently dropped the Pocket thing, then?

Staying bitter for two years is one thing, but it took me a few minutes to refresh actual details about what happened. The initial integration raised privacy concerns but mainly by being unclear. Since then things have steadily improved, like Pocket updating their privacy policy. https://venturebeat.com/2015/06/09/mozilla-responds-to-firef... There was a long discussion on the Mozilla Governance board that clarified a lot of things, including the legal department affirming that users were not automatically bound by Pocket's ToS. https://lwn.net/Articles/650869/ And eventually they bought Pocket. So while Mozilla isn't perfect, privacy is a real priority for them, and when they do mess up, they put a lot of time and effort into mitigation.

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#145

I checked out FF for the zillionth time the other week after the Quantum release hoping to love it, but the deep Pocket integration was just too offputting. Turning it off requires some Googling. There were other irritating commercial things too. It’s a shame. FF is probably the most important open source project in the world and it’s a shame they do stuff like this. I’m still on Chrome :(

> but the deep Pocket integration was just too offputting

You mean the single button that does literally nothing until and unless you click on it?

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#146
I just wanted to add a few things.

1. I notice it yesterday, only because Avast was showing I have a low trust level Add-On installed in Firefox.

2. I googled it, and the first results was from Mozilla, showing it was part of their studies and experiment.

3. That was Ok, because I trust Mozilla, although somewhere in the back of my mind I thought every studies were supposed to be opt-in, since I have a few Add On installed in the week and I dont restart my browser, I thought i might have clicked it by mistake.

4. Now I am reading this through, I am more then worried. If I am reading the online comment correctly, Mozilla installed an Add On without user permission, enabled, collected data, and not for their own UX studies but a third party.

And to make the matter worst, that Add-On is now gone. It disappeared in my Add on Screen now I just check. Call me old fashion but that is not how i view privacy.

Like I said before, Mozilla's management and culture has a tendency of self destruction and messing things up right after they start being good. Still this is turning around much quicker then I thought.

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#147
post #4
post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Are these guys losing their minds? Yes

I don't know what the hell is going on with Mozilla. Ever tried to install Firefox on Android? The new tab page is full of ads by default! And this is the company we are supposed to trust? Because right now I feel like I trust Google more, and that's a lot to say.

No. Firefox was too big for my old phone and I switched to palemoon when firefox stopped allowing unsigned plugins on my desktop. I've been using habit browser on my phone. I don't really trust it at all so I give it minimal permissions and try not to do any browsing on my phone I don't expect to be tracked or monitored. It's fast and customizable and has a built in adblocker so I've been fairly happy with it. I've tried a lot of different mobile browsers. I haven't really found any I liked. They all kinda suck in one way or another. I was really hoping something from F-Droid would be appealing to use but they were all disappointing. The state of mobile browsers in general is kind of abysmal.

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#148
post #146

I just wanted to add a few things. 1. I notice it yesterday, only because Avast was showing I have a low trust level Add-On installed in Firefox. 2. I googled it, and the first results was from Mozilla, showing it was part of their studies and experiment. 3. That was Ok, because I trust Mozilla, although somewhere in the back of my mind I thought every studies were supposed to be opt-in, since I have a few Add On ins…

It seems to have disappeared from about:addons because the "study" has ended. In about:studies I see:

> pug-experience

> Complete • My reality is different than yours

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#149
post #34
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems kind of like it is part of an ARG. I can't say I'm totally against something like that; Mozilla's gotta make money somehow, and as long as it's not selling out user privacy it's a better tradeoff than Chrome.

> Mozilla's gotta make money somehow They're a nonprofit; they're not allowed to just "make money". And, they already take donations.

"non-profit" isn't a magical incantation that means they can run with a revenue deficit forever though. They have expenses and there has to be enough revenue coming in to cover those expenses, or they will go out of business. That's true for any business, whether it's for-profit or non-profit.

Re: Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

#150

I checked out FF for the zillionth time the other week after the Quantum release hoping to love it, but the deep Pocket integration was just too offputting. Turning it off requires some Googling. There were other irritating commercial things too. It’s a shame. FF is probably the most important open source project in the world and it’s a shame they do stuff like this. I’m still on Chrome :(

> but the deep Pocket integration was just too offputting You mean the single button that does literally nothing until and unless you click on it?

Yep, that button was really annoying. And the Pocket thing on the home screen, too. And the fact that I had to Google to figure out how to disable it.

If you must know why, I don't want promos for particular web properties in my browser. I find Pocket to be annoying conceptually (a service to help you carry around all the things you didn't and won't read—eww, no, no thank you), and I don't want to look at it every day. I don't want to have to Google to figure out how to disable it. I don't want my browser to come with nonsense I need to disable.

> You mean the single button that does literally nothing until and unless you click on it?

This must be the kind of mentality that leads people at FF to do silly things like mentioned on this thread, or having "just one button" for their acquired web property. That's the opposite of how great product minds think. Great product people think "how can I REMOVE this button?" Not "how can I get away with having it?"

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