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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

#391

Post by bigbugbag »

WhitneyLand wrote: post #344
skymt wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking for myself here, but I'm not concerned that Mozilla might push malware into Firefox installations. I'm concerned about the lack of judgement in pushing an extension with a vague, scary-sounding name and description simply for a cross-marketing tie-in, and I'm worried that it could have damaged the trust ordinary users have in Firefox.

I don’t see the harm in a good organization contributing lot of value to this world having a little fun. Some of the comments are mentioning IT managers banning firefox, those will be the same IT managers doing all the other pennywise/pound foolish things that make you try not to work on their team in the first place. Maybe it’s actually good to put something scary sounding in there to raise awareness. It could help…

What do you mean having a little fun ?

Firefox is bleeding market share and has been for a while. Despite this, revenue and profit is at an all time high for mozilla which is weird as the revenue comes from sending theirs users to google for being profiled and exposed to ads. Meanwhile long time users lose faith and trust in mozilla and firefox.

Not exactly the best time to be caught having "a little fun" move showing that they will sneakily install stuff in your browser without asking.

Then again mozilla is "making far-reaching and very short-sighted decisions in a vacuum."[1]

[1]:http://forums-test.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?p=14736466#...

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

#392

Post by avtar »

kryptiskt wrote: post #383
kryptiskt wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major problem is that they installed an add-on without properly communicating what it was. A somewhat smaller problem but still a big problem is that was an utterly frivolous add-on that shouldn't have been pushed to people who didn't explicitly want it. But the biggest problem is that Mozilla seems to have trouble understanding why any of those two would be a problem, I want my browser vendor to be serious and n…

So this is the first response from Mozilla in the Gizmodo article: “Firefox worked with the Mr. Robot team to create a custom experience that would surprise and delight fans of the show and our users. It’s especially important to call out that this collaboration does not compromise our principles or values regarding privacy. The experience does not collect or share any data,” Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, chief marketing offi…

I've been using Firefox for 90% of my browsing for a few years now and really want to continue to do so but I really wish Mozilla would stop shooting themselves in the foot already. This once again gives the impression that they have some teams that aren't in touch with the reality on the ground, that these types of initiatives hurt their chances of gaining more users.

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

#393

Post by bigbugbag »

Ajedi32 wrote: post #229
callahad wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The source lives at https://github.com/gregglind/addon-wr/

Looking over [the contributors list][1], looks like the plugin was written entirely by Mozilla employees. So, no "Mr Robot marketing department", as some commenters here have been speculating. [1]: https://github.com/gregglind/addon-wr/graphs/contributors

Well...

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

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

#394

Post by franga2000 »

chris_wot wrote: post #389
45h34jh53k4j wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your work security team loves mr robot, it will be fine...

No, it really will not. My workplace saw that OpenOffice had a security issue, and banned it AND LibreOffice. Nothing I can do about it. Can’t argue. Trust is very, very easily lost and incredibly hard to regain. And it can hit innocent third parties. It’s very, very wrong to do anything that could destroy trust.

Have they seen the shit that's been found in Microsoft Office? It seemed like there was a new RCE every week for while.

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

#395

Post by bigbugbag »

TylerH wrote: post #381
skymt wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking for myself here, but I'm not concerned that Mozilla might push malware into Firefox installations. I'm concerned about the lack of judgement in pushing an extension with a vague, scary-sounding name and description simply for a cross-marketing tie-in, and I'm worried that it could have damaged the trust ordinary users have in Firefox.

What's scary about "Looking Glass"? It's not named something like "PrivacyRemover" or "SpamEmailer" or anything.

What was wrong about apple automatically adding a U2 album to itunes library ?

Same here for looking glass, we do not want corporations to be in control of our stuff. Mozilla showing that they have built the capacity to auto install addons into your browser is quite the issue, you can rest assured that some are already working on ways to abuse this.

That they have done it as a promotional marketing trick and not or something useful or serious sends the wrong kind of message on top of it.

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

#396

Post by bigbugbag »

avtar wrote: post #392
kryptiskt wrote: post #383

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this is the first response from Mozilla in the Gizmodo article: “Firefox worked with the Mr. Robot team to create a custom experience that would surprise and delight fans of the show and our users. It’s especially important to call out that this collaboration does not compromise our principles or values regarding privacy. The experience does not collect or share any data,” Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, chief marketing offi…

I've been using Firefox for 90% of my browsing for a few years now and really want to continue to do so but I really wish Mozilla would stop shooting themselves in the foot already. This once again gives the impression that they have some teams that aren't in touch with the reality on the ground, that these types of initiatives hurt their chances of gaining more users.

Let me suggest you a browser aptly named waterfox, that could be described as firefox without mozilla nonsense.

[1]: https://www.waterfoxproject.org/

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

#397

Post by bigbugbag »

Drdrdrq wrote: post #366
kryptiskt wrote: post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major problem is that they installed an add-on without properly communicating what it was. A somewhat smaller problem but still a big problem is that was an utterly frivolous add-on that shouldn't have been pushed to people who didn't explicitly want it. But the biggest problem is that Mozilla seems to have trouble understanding why any of those two would be a problem, I want my browser vendor to be serious and n…

This. I love Mozilla, but between automatic change of default search engine in 57.0.1, pushing changes that broke most of my extensions and now this, I am starting to feel anxious...

Ever heard of waterfox ?

https://www.waterfoxproject.org/

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

#398

Post by bigbugbag »

TheRealPomax wrote: post #303
UmmNope wrote: post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The major problem was building a feature into the product that allowed for pushing add-ons without users knowledge much less active consent in the first place, there is no benign use for this kind of functionality.

you mean the automatic update process, which can change every single byte of every file in every directory under Firefox's control? Because unless you want to live in a world where your browser can't automatically apply security patches and upgrade critical components, the fact that the application can update itself is very much not the actual problem (and with the new web extension addon system rathern than the old…

The automatic update process fails because it does not have right to install software on my box. The power of setting permissions and not blindly trusting software just because it is floss.

I would not want it to have this kind of power as the security patches and critical updates are provided by the kind people managing the distro repositories, and if it could update itself it would remove the third party patches required because mozilla has been refusing for 15 years to integrate correctly in my desktop environment but did integrate in the main competitor.

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

#399

Post by erk__ »

toyg wrote: post #384
hitekker wrote: post #319

1) Mozilla uses weird, spooky language in an add-on. 2) Users are justifiably concerned. 3) Mozilla explains that the add-on is actually anodyne; the developers responsible were having fun with an opt-in research service. 4) Some users try to justify their initial overreaction by painting Firefox as mysterious, dangerous entity, fabulating conspiracy theories about one of the most forthright and open OSS companies in…

1) One day you wake up and somebody is watching TV in your living room. 2) you freak out. Who is this guy? I didn't invite anyone last night! 3) The guy turns around and it's just your mate Chad. He didn't mean any harm, just wanted to watch TV and hang out. 4) This is not on, Chad is a psycho. Intentions don't really matter: they've just demonstrated a scary and invasive capability without any warning. Minimizing it…

This would work better if chad lived in the same house and you shared the living room.

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

#400

Post by TAForObvReasons »

bigbugbag wrote: post #391
WhitneyLand wrote: post #344

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see the harm in a good organization contributing lot of value to this world having a little fun. Some of the comments are mentioning IT managers banning firefox, those will be the same IT managers doing all the other pennywise/pound foolish things that make you try not to work on their team in the first place. Maybe it’s actually good to put something scary sounding in there to raise awareness. It could help…

What do you mean having a little fun ? Firefox is bleeding market share and has been for a while. Despite this, revenue and profit is at an all time high for mozilla which is weird as the revenue comes from sending theirs users to google for being profiled and exposed to ads. Meanwhile long time users lose faith and trust in mozilla and firefox. Not exactly the best time to be caught having "a little fun" move showin…

> Firefox is bleeding market share and has been for a while.

http://gs.statcounter.com/

    Chrome            54.98%
    Safari            14.79%
    UC Browser         7.98%
    Firefox            6.09%
    Internet Explorer  3.88%
    Opera              3.79%
In all fairness, Firefox has overtaken IE.
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