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Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

protocol.com

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Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#91

Post by ComodoHacker »

groovybits wrote: post #82
ComodoHacker wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Mozilla’s first integration of Pocket was poorly done, and rightfully raised complaints. But since they have purchased it, a lot of those complaints have been resolved. Off-topic, but I find current integration equally poor. Why do I have to spend extra clicks to login every time I want to add something to Pocket? Why it doesn't use stored credentials just like Sync does?

> If you sign into Pocket with your Firefox Sync account, this is the behavior. It should only prompt you to re-login if you've cleared cookies. Even then, you can re-login via FF Sync without entering the password in again. If you're logging in with a service other than FF Sync (ex: Google), I'm not sure how you expect FF to know what your credentials are to log you in.

>It should only prompt you to re-login if you've cleared cookies

Looks like Cookie AutoDelete extension somehow affects Pocket but not Sync. Thank you for hint!

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#92

Post by cotelletta »

Every time people breathlessly relate the tale of Cambridge Analytica as the day privacy died, you should know they have no clue.

Because the Obama campaign built the exact same kind of dataset, using the same APIs, with the same overreach, 4 years prior, and Facebook knew about it and looked the other way. The campaign boasted about leaving the stone age Republicans in the dust. I guess the Dems don't look so hot now anymore after Iowa.

All of this is a matter of record. It was only bad when the "wrong" people pushed the wrong kind of propaganda, and the response was a massive push by the media to point the finger. Media, btw, whose websites too send your data to more than a hundred partners per site visit.

They all fixate on the scapegoat because otherwise they'd have to admit to being part of the problem.

That they then mix up the uncontroversial topic of privacy with the old hobby horses of diversity and equality is the final nail in the coffin. Mozilla is more interested in signaling their moral compliance with the current year rather than finding commonality on the greater topic of respecting privacy and thinking long term.

Oh yeah, where were any of these people when Stallman was scapegoated to absolve MIT of its Epstein sins?

R.I.P. Mozilla. It killed IE, and then hubris and brain damage killed it.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#93

Post by codingmess »

dangus wrote: post #11
RabbiPires wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is listing it as a primary principle when there are more pressing concerns. I don't care about people's politics, so long as they don't push it to the forefront. Unfortunately this is what seems to happen a lot these days. "Fighting hate" should not be a primary concern for Mozilla right now.

I’m failing to see how Mozilla is being political, and how fighting hate is political. Theoretically, people across the political spectrum should all agree with that. Hate online is a huge problem, and if Mozilla think they have potential to solve that problem, I’d say they can go for it. It’s their budget, not mine or yours.

Referring to this, for example: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wxenxx/mozilla-wants-youn...

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#94

Post by cousin_it »

1) Thirteen banner ads, most of them animated

2) Tracking from Google and Facebook

3) Cookie warning with no way to opt out

4) You can only opt out if you live in California:

> Opting out of the sharing of your personal information by Protocol with marketers: Please send an email to privacy@protocol.com with the following information: -Name -Email -Confirmation of California residency

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#95

Post by davidy123 »

The concept of the browser is a universal vehicle for information. One of the greatest breakthroughs for browsers, aside from increasing front end application rendering and interactivity, is extensions. They put the user as the primary, where they can access, control, organize the information accessed as they wish using extensions. Of course, there is a wild west aspect to this, and over time extension facilities are becoming closer to app stores, with ratings and permissions being primary. Chrome has had some of the best support for extensions, making it easy to create them and offering most features through them, which is one reason I use it instead of Firefox day to day. But no browser properly supports extensions on mobile. Chrome just doesn't, the Kiwi fork is supposed to but in my experience doesn't really, Firefox says they will but the signals are it will only be select extensions, at least for now. Extensions are one of the best markers and facilities of a free, user first web, that isn't just about accessing opaque, absolutely controlled services, where hobbyists and principled organizations can work directly in the space of privacy and trust as information is processed, so I hope they pick up some priority.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#96

Post by simias »

DrScientist wrote: post #15

Ex-Mozillian Brendan Eich agrees that privacy is the battle for the future http://www.brave.com The question is - do you need to re-write the internet economy as Brave are trying to to achieve it, and not just block trackers? The third element is that governments are becoming addicted to the vast trove of information gathered - will they be willing to give that up if a technical/business model solution takes off. Int…

You make it sound as if Brave does more than Firefox to provide an alternative to the Chrome quasi-monopoly. Let's not forget that Brave is a fork of Chromium in the first place which means that if you value competition Firefox is still a better bet, at least until Brave shows that they can maintain a deep fork of Chrome long term while resisting upstream changes they don't want and that's a very tall order.

I do agree that changing the internet economy would be great though, but at this point I'm not entirely sure I trust Brave to do that. They clearly want a piece of the advertising cake under the guise of "disrupting" things, but should they end up being successful I'm not yet completely convinced that it'll change things fundamentally. I'm definitely curious to see if they manage to do it though, even if it ends up as a failed experiment it will have been an interesting one.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#97

Post by daedalus_f »

ksec wrote: post #81
ilitirit wrote: post #10

> 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.

>Honest question... who did they lose to? Google Chrome? Arguably you could say they lost some market share to Chrome and Safari, but realistically they never won much in the first place. And that is from someone who followed Firefox development before it was even called Firefox.

I think Firefox market share peaked in 2010 at around 30% before slowly declining as chrome rose in popularity. At least according to StatCounter: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers#...

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#98

Post by move-on-by »

ComodoHacker wrote: post #68
heartbeats wrote: post #36

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.

Seriously, why would anyone trust the Russian controlled Yandex any more then Google? Might as well be advocating for Baidu as well.

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#99

Post by tclover »

cousin_it wrote: post #94

1) Thirteen banner ads, most of them animated 2) Tracking from Google and Facebook 3) Cookie warning with no way to opt out 4) You can only opt out if you live in California: > Opting out of the sharing of your personal information by Protocol with marketers: Please send an email to privacy@protocol.com with the following information: -Name -Email -Confirmation of California residency

I often forget how does the internet look like without the adblocker

Re: Mozilla’s plan to fix internet privacy

#100

Post by blackearl »

davidy123 wrote: post #95

The concept of the browser is a universal vehicle for information. One of the greatest breakthroughs for browsers, aside from increasing front end application rendering and interactivity, is extensions. They put the user as the primary, where they can access, control, organize the information accessed as they wish using extensions. Of course, there is a wild west aspect to this, and over time extension facilities are…

Mobile Firefox has the only extension I really need on there, uBlock Origin. No other mobile browser has anything comparable from what I've seen so I'm not sure what you're talking about on that point.
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