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User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

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Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#21

Post by asquabventured »

k-mcgrady wrote: post #5

When did they build in Pocket? I didn't like when they added Hello but this seems even stranger. I guess they're getting money from Pocket for it in the same way they get money from Google for search but users can opt-out of Google search - from those complaints it doesn't sound possible for Pocket. (Please let me know if I'm wrong).

1) Type about:config in the browser's address bar and hit the enter-key afterwards.

2) Confirm that you will be careful if the prompt appears.

3) Search for browser.pocket.enabled.

4) Double-click on the preference to toggle its state from true to false.

This disables Pocket in Firefox and the icon should be gone once you restart the browser.

Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2015/05/14/how-to-disable-pocket-in-fi...

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#22

Post by reubenmorais »

tajen wrote: post #13
mariusmg wrote: post #3

Mozilla is not a merry band of hackers anymore. They're a bona fida corporation with its own agenda. Their agenda depends on having as many users as possible so they're trying to make everything they can for that. The free web, choice and all that become second place now. PS : Look at their corporate HQ.

At least it means Mozilla has reviewed the Pocket code embedded in the browser and it doesn't send every single keystroke to GetPocket. It's good, because I don't usually install browser extensions for the very reason that I don't know what parts of my privacy I'm giving up. Btw, just a question because I'm not sure. They've reviewed the Pocket code, right?

The Pocket integration is open source, and it went through the same peer review process all code goes through before being pushed to the repositories.

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#23

Post by sanxiyn »

hiou wrote: post #12
jszymborski wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

very much agree. I honestly don't see what the hubub is all about. Re: privacy, Firefox maintains it's commitment and integrity. The pocket integration is very transparent (pocket has agreed to open-source it), and the tech-saavy people that seem to be the only people this offends can disable with about:config. Honestly, it seems that people seem to be upset about the idea that Firefox is raising money outside of don…

If Mozilla is going to start including proprietary closed platforms like pocket, what do they offer that Chrome is not? WebKit is much more targeted by web developers so I'm going to have a slightly better experience with Chrome. Without the moral high ground of openness and privacy why would anyone chose Firefox over the competition?

Firefox uses less memory than Chrome, for example.

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#24

Post by eli »

morganvachon wrote: post #10
h1fra wrote: post #4

These are mostly childish comment, not really HN worthy.

And yours is? Most of the comments center around the same idea: Mozilla removed the choice of which "read later" service to use by default, by baking it into the browser itself instead of leaving it as an extension or add-on, where it and all the other services like it belong. So, now if you have a user who doesn't want a "read later" service, they have to take the extra steps to disable the button and go into about:…

Honest question: would it be better if instead they rolled out a custom Firefox-only Read Later service, as was the original plan?

Is the issue that they "picked a winner" or that Read Later shouldn't be built in to the browser, period?

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#25

Post by Zuikaku »

blfr wrote: post #20

I don't understand the complaint here. Do people expect Mozilla to build everything themselves? Reader View is a great feature that was clearly missing. Adding a third party sync to it is really no different from picking a default search engine to serve location bar entries. Pocket is fine, best of the trio (Instapaper, Readability) IMHO. I actually switched to Pocket from Readability, which was getting buggier, a fe…

The complaint is the fact that Pocket is now natively built into Firefox, which if you read the Pocket ToS, can be considered a violation of privacy. That, and the fact that because it is natively built in rather than a default extension, it cannot be removed, only disabled.

It's something that couldn't be farther from necessary. That's the complaint here.

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#26

Post by blfr »

Zuikaku wrote: post #25
blfr wrote: post #20

I don't understand the complaint here. Do people expect Mozilla to build everything themselves? Reader View is a great feature that was clearly missing. Adding a third party sync to it is really no different from picking a default search engine to serve location bar entries. Pocket is fine, best of the trio (Instapaper, Readability) IMHO. I actually switched to Pocket from Readability, which was getting buggier, a fe…

The complaint is the fact that Pocket is now natively built into Firefox, which if you read the Pocket ToS, can be considered a violation of privacy. That, and the fact that because it is natively built in rather than a default extension, it cannot be removed, only disabled. It's something that couldn't be farther from necessary. That's the complaint here.

What's the difference between removing and disabling? Aren't they effectively the same? The source is still there to read/hack. Do you care about a few lines of inactive code? If so, I'd start the purge with Hello.

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#27

Post by me_bx »

mariusmg wrote: post #3

Mozilla is not a merry band of hackers anymore. They're a bona fida corporation with its own agenda. Their agenda depends on having as many users as possible so they're trying to make everything they can for that. The free web, choice and all that become second place now. PS : Look at their corporate HQ.

if they continue like this, people will use 'm$' for mozilla, not for microsoft anymore.

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#28

Post by soapdog »

Let me clarify some things:

* There is no money involved in the Pocket thing.

* Pocket was added internally and not as an extension because it was easier.

* You don't become a Pocket user simply by using Firefox, you need to actually use the feature.

* Mozilla helped Pocket create a new privacy policy

* If you don't use it, then it is not doing you any harm. If somehow the presence of a button annoys you, then you can click the "customize" menu item and remove that button.

Firefox Hello is a collaboration, developed by Mozilla with help from Telefonica. Its videoconferencing without accounts. You don't need to create any account and it doesn't track you, how that is not good is beyond me.

The Pocket feature is really useful for those using it and harmless for those not using it. You can always remove the button or replace it with an add-on of your choice.

Instead of offering just a web view, Mozilla is trying to bundle features that the users find useful. None of the said features does you any harm if you don't use them.

Before finishing this comment, let me leave you with a little nugget of advise: Less war and more dating. Instead of being a critic and combating every form of feature that somehow you dislike. Try to see how partnerships and opportunities make things better for everyone.Lots of people are loving the Pocket and Hello features and using them on a daily basis. Instead of removing features we can think of scenarios where they are useful and understand why they are there. And again, if you don't like them, you can use the Customize feature to remove them from the toolbars.

Re: User feedback on Pocket submitted to Mozilla

#30

Post by tiplus »

sp332 wrote: post #9
mariusmg wrote: post #3

Mozilla is not a merry band of hackers anymore. They're a bona fida corporation with its own agenda. Their agenda depends on having as many users as possible so they're trying to make everything they can for that. The free web, choice and all that become second place now. PS : Look at their corporate HQ.

The Mozilla Corporation is completely owned by the Mozilla Foundation, a non-profit with a manifesto https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/manifesto/details/ that reads in part, "Individuals’ security and privacy on the Internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional."

Somehow the part about privacy seems to refer to a 'special' form of privacy... look at FF hello:

Mozilla about FF Hello [1]: "Firefox Hello is provided to you in collaboration with TokBox, Inc. ("TokBox") and sends data to TokBox as a part of the function of the service."

Tokbox (Telefonica)[2]: "We neither rent nor sell your information to anyone. We don’t share your information with other organizations or individuals outside of TokBox, except as described below"

below: - "With our affiliates and trusted business partners that cooperate with us to provide you our services" - "We may share Aggregate Data publicly and with our partners."

Please try to contact Mozilla and tell me who these 'trusted business partners' are. I tried and did not get anywhere...

I am a former customer of Telefonica and they sure tried very hard to appear as a 'will mug you for money' type of company.

[1] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox-hello/ [2] https://tokbox.com/support/privacy-policy

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