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Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

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Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#51

Post by ComodoHacker »

Gigachad wrote: post #21
Dylan16807 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now if it could just wait to ask for the permission until it needs it...

The extension is direct from Mozilla. If I didn’t trust it to request literally any permission, I should just delete Firefox entirely because it could do just about anything without having to ask me.

You do know the reasoning behind the Least Privilege Principle, don't you?

It's not that developers are untrustworthy, it's that software have vulnerabilities, and they get exploited.

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#52

Post by troydavis »

PufPufPuf wrote: post #25

You don't really need this extension to use containers -- it just adds some convenience, but the main functionality (creating containers, opening tabs in containers, moving tabs between containers, ...) is in Firefox core. There are also other convenience extensions that use containers -- like Simple Tab Groups, which allows creating groups and assigning them to containers. I use it and have no need for the "Multi-Ac…

If anyone else removes the extension like I just did:

1. The extension provides the ability to map certain sites to certain containers (more: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers#w_what-you-c... #5). If you use this feature, as far as I can tell, you need the extension.

2. You'll need to enable these about:config flags to get the container options: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29347284#29348057. Also, removing the extension and then enabling those flags still reset my container settings to the defaults.

I use the site-to-container mappings, so I reinstalled the extension.

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#53

Post by troydavis »

extra88 wrote: post #44
usr1106 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What functionality / convenience are you losing by doing so?

Without the extension, you can't set a domain to always open in a particular container, at least I couldn't find a UI to do so. To me, that is a very important part of using containers. You extension also lets you sort open tabs by container but that doesn't sound very useful.

I experienced the same thing. Without the extension but with these flags enabled, there's no way to bind certain hostnames to certain containers.

This is sort of documented in https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/containers#w_what-you-c... #5. That page covers it but doesn't clearly spell out that the itemized features are only possible with the extension. As far as I can tell, the extension is called "Multi-Account Containers" while the feature is called "containers" and readers are expected to know the difference when reading that doc. (Suggestion to Firefox docs maintainers: if that's correct, change all occurrences of "Multi-Account Containers" to "Multi-Account Containers Extension")

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#55

Post by wodow »

evolve2k wrote: post #50
Traubenfuchs wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Donating to mozilla considered harmful. https://itdm.com/mozilla-firefox-usage-down-85-but-why-are-e...

Wow ouch. Didn’t realise the exec were taking so much pay. Really disappointing. Someone help me out.. where can we find the constitution for the Mozilla foundation? Who makes up the voting membership who could act on this sort of stuff at a governance level?

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/who-we-are/public-records/

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#56

Post by ubbr »

I am super satisfied with the Containerise extension https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/containerise/) as alternative for Multi-Account Containers. It lets you map whole classes of domains to unique containers, which is an awesome and robust solution for logins involving a lot of redirects. Here are some example mappings which also catch all real subdomains (but not "fakeamazon.com"):

@^(.+\.|)amazon\.(de|com) , Amazon

@^(.+\.|)spotify\.(de|com) , Spotify

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#57

Post by d1sxeyes »

Vinnl wrote: post #16
d1sxeyes wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I checked that page, and I don't see how to enable this natively. This page just seems to point people to install the add-on.

The anchor link doesn't scroll properly for me, but it's supposed to point to the heading "for advanced users". The tl;dr is: > you can set privacy.userContext.enabled to true and privacy.userContext.ui.enabled to true in about:config.

Thanks!

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#58

Post by Gigachad »

ComodoHacker wrote: post #51
Gigachad wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The extension is direct from Mozilla. If I didn’t trust it to request literally any permission, I should just delete Firefox entirely because it could do just about anything without having to ask me.

You do know the reasoning behind the Least Privilege Principle, don't you? It's not that developers are untrustworthy, it's that software have vulnerabilities, and they get exploited.

The permissions being requested are things that all native apps get by default. I’m not worried about trusted code getting permission to something I trusted a hundred other apps with previously.

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#59

Post by resoluteteeth »

ComodoHacker wrote: post #49
resoluteteeth wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This permission is harmless because native messaging only allows an extension to communicate with a specific native companion program that has to be installed/enabled outside if firefox. If you don't install the companion program, this permission won't do anything. It does not allow the extension to run arbitrary programs.

Where and how is this program specified? Can malware impersonate itself as a "companion program" and collect user activity data?

It's just specified in a manifest file in a specific location on Linux or referenced in a registry key on windows, so sure, if you already have malware running on your computer I suppose it could do that (assuming the messages sent by the extension contain browsing data) but there would probably be easier ways for it to collect your data.

Re: Multi-Account Containers to “Exchange messages with programs other than Firefox”

#60

Post by ComodoHacker »

Gigachad wrote: post #58
ComodoHacker wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do know the reasoning behind the Least Privilege Principle, don't you? It's not that developers are untrustworthy, it's that software have vulnerabilities, and they get exploited.

The permissions being requested are things that all native apps get by default. I’m not worried about trusted code getting permission to something I trusted a hundred other apps with previously.

Those other apps don't regularly download and execute arbitrary third-party code, though.
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