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Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

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Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#401

Post by technobabbler »

pell wrote: post #374
technobabbler wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox has no real competitive pressure and no need to improve. Google is their sugar daddy and Mozilla stopped innovating a decade ago. It's just constantly playing catchup while suckling on Google teats, desperately clinging onto relevance. Without Google nobody would pay for their browser. At this point it'd be better for the web if we standardized on Blink and moved on, cleaning up some of the invasive tracking…

Firefox has fixed a lot of issues in their Quantum release. It removed a lot of what you called bloat as well. In tests it uses a lot less memory on average compared to Chrome. The privacy settings have been extended even further in recent years. Chrome’s settings come not even close to it. The extension system is still more flexible than Chrome’s. It has some built-in features such as autoplay stop and audio control…

Sure, you go ahead and believe that. Every release of Firefox I've tried, including the recent ones, have sucked and been full of spam.

I'm angry at them because how the hell did we get here from the beauty of early Firefox and Phoenix? They've become the monster they were trying to fight.

You don't agree with my assertions, that's fine. Its marketshare speaks for itself. People don't trust Mozilla anymore, with good reason.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#402

Post by danillonunes »

grey_earthling wrote: post #347
ex_mozilla wrote: post #230

I'm posting anonymously for obvious reasons. I've been working at Mozilla since its inception. And eventually left the company 2 years ago. And I'm so mad. Mozilla is not the Mozilla that was created almost 20 years ago. It's not the same people there. After the Firefox 4 nightmare, they started hiring product managers from big corp. We started seeing some ex-twitter, ex-microsoft, ex-amazon joining the company. Peop…

> Maybe he didn't have the same values employees had about LGBT, but fuck this This tactic will only work if Mozilla doesn't want to bring queer people along with them — an open web for _most_ people, but some people aren't welcome to join in. Making tools and services for public use is always political, and by tacitly endorsing discrimination against queer people, Mozilla would have been taking a stance that would h…

Is there any case of a company that went through those steps and it was well received by the public?

Because I'm under the impression the people who were asking for Brendan's head are the ones who believe a CEO's personal political position would always reflect on his company. Mozilla just trying to say it does not wouldn't be enough.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#404

Post by account42 »

kevin_thibedeau wrote: post #284
busymom0 wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I changed my default browser few days ago back to Safari. In Firefox, I would usually click the first two items on the home page which would be photopea or reddit. That day, they put 2 sponsored items for Amazon and Trivago instead at the first 2 spots and I accidentally clicked the amazon one without realizing because that first item was supposed to be Photopea. That was enough to piss me off: https://i.imgur.com/s7…

You can disable the sponsored links.

Sorry but that's not good enough for a browser whose main selling point is "privacy". You don't get to play the good guy underdog and pull any shit.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#405

Post by account42 »

technobabbler wrote: post #337
laurent92 wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Advertising inside of Firefox is going insane, even if it’s just ads for Mozilla. Tabs that opens when you open FF, little lines on the home page, “Big browser takes care of your privacy” starts looking very creepy.

They're desperate. The whole organization is dying.

The whole organization is dying while the CEO gets raises.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#406

Post by account42 »

jl6 wrote: post #219
abandonliberty wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe the apologists commenting on this. Firefox put a lot of effort into tracking download to install behavior. Maybe this is the only violation you know about. There's no reason to continue to believe in Mozilla's good faith. They've been captured, and are 90% dependent on Google revenue. Discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28954390 Firefox is dead. It's time to move past denial. It does…

How about we try and fix this rather than walking away? All the alternatives are even worse.

Ok then how do you plan to fix this? The only outside entity who has any say what direction Mozilla takes Firefox in is the one paying them: Google.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#408

Post by li2uR3ce »

I really would like to see some proof of worth here. What changes--organizational wise, code wise, or otherwise--have been made as a result of this tracking? There seems to be a presumed usefulness for this tracking. Is there still a need to do this tracking?

If it's genuinely useful and you're a transparent organization then it should be an easy thing to write up. "See! We avoided this *catastrophic* thing!" Demonstrate that the data has a very defining role in decision making or just get rid of it. The demonstration of its usefulness needs to continue as long as the tracking does. What significant problem(s) is being solved here? Sated curiosity isn't that compelling.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#409

Post by evilduck »

GekkePrutser wrote: post #173
systemvoltage wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't remember exactly but Apple also does this with apps. "Downloaded from ...".

That is also annoying but two wrongs don't make a right. Also Apple seems to just track this to show a prompt as to why they need approval for the install. And it's just stored locally in the metadata. But yes I wish this prompt could be completely turned off. This isn't just security for the user though, they have a clear financial motive in promoting their app store as an easier option. After all the app store is a…

I have a hard time viewing Apple's Spotlight metadata as a wrong. It's locally created and stored, it's transparently shown in File info and mdls. It can be purged and edited with xattrs. It doesn't follow the file across computers and you can outright disable file metadata and indexing if you really care enough and I've never seen or heard of any evidence of Apple sending this local data outside your computer. Windows indexes files and creates metadata, even popular Linux desktop distros do it, because it's a usability improvement for most people.

>But yes I wish this prompt could be completely turned off.

defaults write com.apple.LaunchServices LSQuarantine -bool NO

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#410

Post by geraldyo »

ex_mozilla wrote: post #230

I'm posting anonymously for obvious reasons. I've been working at Mozilla since its inception. And eventually left the company 2 years ago. And I'm so mad. Mozilla is not the Mozilla that was created almost 20 years ago. It's not the same people there. After the Firefox 4 nightmare, they started hiring product managers from big corp. We started seeing some ex-twitter, ex-microsoft, ex-amazon joining the company. Peop…

It's absurd to me how OK everyone is with the fact that you're heavily implying that "the LGBT" or "women right" (sic) is in some way responsible. Greed, lack of sight and poor management are all at fault, as you said. There's literally no point in singling out those groups, beyond validating your biases.
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