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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

#21

Post by exelius »

proaralyst wrote: post #7

Looks like it's a promo for Mr Robot, which is really not ok. > What's happening? Are you a fan of Mr Robot? Are you trying to solve one of the many puzzles that the Mr Robot team has built? You’re on the right track. Firefox and Mr Robot have collaborated on a shared experience to further your immersion into the Mr Robot universe, also known as an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). The effects you’re seeing are a part of…

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.

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

#22

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/lookingglass

The Mr. Robot series centers around the theme of online privacy and security. One of the 10 guiding principles of Mozilla's mission is that individuals' security and privacy on the internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional. The more people know about what information they are sharing online, the more they can protect their privacy.

...which you've done by installing a fishy-looking addon without our permission and making us less likely to trust you?

Well-done, Mozilla.

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

#23

Post by teekert »

shak77 wrote: post #4
grawprog wrote: 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.

Adds are annoying yes, but they are only bad for your privacy if they track and profile you. Adds allow for free stuff and they can be done the right way. Granted this is becoming more and more rare so I understand your standard association of adds with distrust. The adds you refer to are non tracking (please tell me if I'm wrong though) and will slowly be replaced by sites you visit (often).

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

#24

Post by y0ghur7_xxx »

This happened to me yesterday, so I looked for it.

The Extension actually does nothing, but invert (make them upside down) a few words on specific sites.

It's an experiment called "PUG ARG" to check whether page contents sniffing works. Its page doesn't reference any Bugzilla issue or Wiki page, while https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies/Queue doesn't list it.

The source code references https://support.mozilla.org/kb/lookingglass, which (as of now) only says "test - 12817".

The add-on tests whether specific words can be detected on sites; the current list has nice picks like "revolution" and "privacy". Of course, this is only a test, but in the future Firefox might look for specific terms in the pages you load and do specific things based on them.

The other thing it's doing is to send an extra header to three specific sites: https://github.com/gregglind/addon-wr/blob/da464ac8f1c3b0894.... I suppose the words and the domain are a reference to the Mr. Robot series.

The add-on describes itself as an "Augmented Reality Game Experience" and was made by a certain "PUG Experience Group": https://github.com/gregglind/addon-wr/blob/da464ac8f1c3b0894....

Of course, Shield Studies are supposed to be a way of making "more informed product decisions based on actual user needs".

https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/7jh9rv/what_is_loo...

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

#25

Post by edibleEnergy »

Somewhat tangential to this particular issue, but this is a good lesson for developers in why you should be dry and explicit in your writing.

Sure `alert("FFFUUU WHY U NO WORK");` keeps you entertained for 5 minutes while you debug a problem but when that accidentally gets to prod...

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

#26

Post by _red »

bwat49 wrote: post #16
mark-r wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that makes it better. Knowing that there's a way to get an addon installed invisibly is going to be more justification for paranoia.

You can disable these studies under Options | Privacy and Security

I hate the fact that Firefox increasingly makes me jump through all sorts of hoops to find all the hidden options to turn off their various spyware attempts. Its the Win10 of browsers...

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

#27

Post by kotrunga »

Go to settings, look in Firefox Data Collection and Use.

Why are these turned on automatically? Plus, I turned mine off, and now they're back on again, with this looking junk installed.

What the heck Mozilla? What happened to caring about the users? We definitely can't trust Mozilla anymore.

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

#30

Post by RyanZAG »

GenericsMotors wrote: post #13
positivecomment wrote: post #11

Out of literally all the software vendors I know, including the one I'm working for, Mozilla is the one I'd have least expected to allow such a thing. I'm very surprised (Negatively, needless to say)

Mozilla has been a dumpster fire for quite a while now.

Mozilla has been going downhill very fast since Brendan Eich was removed as CEO. There was some controversy at the time and it made sense why he was removed, but it seems clear now that Mozilla took the wrong choice in removing him as it seems he was keeping the ship on course. Now it is floundering from numerous sides.

I think Mozilla should look into getting him back before they all end up losing their jobs.

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