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Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

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Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#61
post #35

I'm using Firefox for years, after Chrome started to ask me for a login (at around version 40). Never looked back. One day I woke up to a chart showing browser market share of FF at around 4%, which surprised me - as I thought many people would understand the implications and directions. Maybe I'm too optimistic. Update: Loved chrome, used it for years, I also love most Chrome engineering and all the innovation they…

> I'm using Firefox for years, after Chrome started to ask me for a login It's funny because Firefox has been pushing their login thing pretty hard (the yellow "oh no" exclamation mark icon if you're not logged in, the account icon that keeps placing itself back onto my toolbar, occasional full-page ad/nag screen, ...).

This doesn't match my experience... When you install it, they show a page and the account icon. I believe that only on some major updates I've seen the account page again, which is a nice reminder to sync bookmarks (even though I don't use it). I always customize the toolbar upon installing and it (the icon) never came back or bothered me again.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#62
Mozilla essentially did a "get woke, go broke". They fired Brendan for ridicolous reasons, they focused on products that were useless and were really focused on spreading propaganda for woke causes.

I still use Firefox everyday since it's the best browser for linux but I also use Brave. Mozilla as a company in my eyes are a bit lost and they need more focus on their technology. It seems like they have realized this in the last two years or so and I hope that trend will continue. Firefox is awesome, focus on privacy is awesome. MDN is awesome. If they need money from other sources than Google, why not create some kind of subscription service for their MDN docs?

There is a bunch of things they actually need to fix like lack of PWA support in firefox (still) which is pretty bad that they don't have that enabled by default.

Focus on what matters, no one cares about your woke politics in the long run.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#63

I'm using Firefox for years, after Chrome started to ask me for a login (at around version 40). Never looked back. One day I woke up to a chart showing browser market share of FF at around 4%, which surprised me - as I thought many people would understand the implications and directions. Maybe I'm too optimistic. Update: Loved chrome, used it for years, I also love most Chrome engineering and all the innovation they…

Chrome has spread like Malware as a bundled installer with a lot of free software. Also it's on most mobile devices. So it's not that surprising.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#64
post #45

The aforementioned Facebook Container was an excellent step, but if they really were serious about fixing Internet privacy regardless of their financial backers, they'd ship an official Google Container as well. (A third party developer ships one as a fork of Facebook Container, but it'd be far preferable for a Mozilla shipped one.) They capitalized on the Cambridge Analytica scandal with the launch of that extension…

That's the problem with Mozilla's privacy propaganda, their funding depends on violating privacy, so they can only talk and pretend, but not actually do anything about it. Which makes them look bad, dishonest and fake, when they are talking about privacy.

They do some things about it, but this is the real world so they struggle to achieve perfection because of trade-offs they have to make. Firefox may be imperfect but it's still much, much better than Chrome when it comes to privacy.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#65
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I want no part of Brave's weird cryptoish scheme. I know the feature is opt-in, but I don't see the point in supporting an organization unable to find a source of revenue I find agreeable. Even something as simple and obnoxious as donation nagging, like Wikipedia, seems preferable to what Brave has proposed.

It’s not perfect, but I like it better than the alternatives (selling user data, non profit). Technically the browser is nice, but there’s something nice about a for profit org whose incentives are aligned with mine. For now, I use a FireFox for similar reasons, but I like Brave’s mode for the web better than the “bad ad” model that google and Facebook push. I used to like Opera for similar reasons.

What could one find disgreeable in a company being a non-profit?

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#66
post #48
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'm using Firefox for years, after Chrome started to ask me for a login It's funny because Firefox has been pushing their login thing pretty hard (the yellow "oh no" exclamation mark icon if you're not logged in, the account icon that keeps placing itself back onto my toolbar, occasional full-page ad/nag screen, ...).

One of those browsers tracks everything you do if you sign-in, the other does it only to increase retention, not to track your activities. Guess which is which?

It would be better not to do [questionable thing] than to do it at all.

I don't particularly care whether nagware functionality is benign or not.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#67

Mozilla essentially did a "get woke, go broke". They fired Brendan for ridicolous reasons, they focused on products that were useless and were really focused on spreading propaganda for woke causes. I still use Firefox everyday since it's the best browser for linux but I also use Brave. Mozilla as a company in my eyes are a bit lost and they need more focus on their technology. It seems like they have realized this i…

> hey fired Brendan for ridicolous reasons

Marriage equality isn't a particularly ridiculous reason.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#68

If they want to do something, there's a simple three-step plan. 1) block all ads, by default 2) do not unblock Google's ads, 3) receive Adblock Plus-style bribes from Yandex or whoever to whitelist them, provided they don't harm privacy This would kill several birds in one stone. First, break Mozilla free of Google funding. Second, hurt Google. Third, increase Firefox' market share. Fourth, help users' privacy. As th…

>from Yandex or whoever to whitelist them, provided they don't harm privacy

I doubt you can find one that doesn't harm privacy. And particulary Yandex will raise other concerns.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#69

> Mozilla lost the browser wars Honest question... who did they lose to? Google Chrome? For me personally, Firefox has been better than Chrome for several years now. The only reason I still load up Chrome is when I want to stream to my Chromecast.

Came here to react on first words in article too.

Netscape lost. Original Opera lost. IE lost. Edge lost. As in killed off by creators and no new work is done on it.

Mozilla Firefox at this point is going strong and growing. It is a better browser than Chrome for me.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#70
post #35

I'm using Firefox for years, after Chrome started to ask me for a login (at around version 40). Never looked back. One day I woke up to a chart showing browser market share of FF at around 4%, which surprised me - as I thought many people would understand the implications and directions. Maybe I'm too optimistic. Update: Loved chrome, used it for years, I also love most Chrome engineering and all the innovation they…

> I'm using Firefox for years, after Chrome started to ask me for a login It's funny because Firefox has been pushing their login thing pretty hard (the yellow "oh no" exclamation mark icon if you're not logged in, the account icon that keeps placing itself back onto my toolbar, occasional full-page ad/nag screen, ...).

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