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Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

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Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#91

Post by car_analogy »

zagrebian wrote: post #87
idiotsecant wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had to serve you the file, for which they needed your IP. If they're willing to assign each downloaded client a unique ID what are the odds they are not storing the IP address associated with that unique ID?

Why would Mozilla need the IP address?

Why would they need installer IDs? The question is if they collect it, not if they need it, and all their other behavior suggests that they do collect it.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#92

Post by seba_dos1 »

tick_tock_tick wrote: post #31
seba_dos1 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As if there was any serious alternative that wasn't much worse.

I mean if they both are going off the deep end for tracking chrome is faster and a ton of developers seem to only care if it works on chrome....

Well, Firefox' tracking is usually meant for determining things like where did the installer came from and collecting feature usage data, while Google's is all about building marketing profiles to sell targeted ads. You decide how bad each of them is.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#93

Post by zagrebian »

car_analogy wrote: post #91
zagrebian wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would Mozilla need the IP address?

Why would they need installer IDs? The question is if they collect it, not if they need it, and all their other behavior suggests that they do collect it.

The article explains why: to figure out why there are more installs than downloads.

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#96

Post by foerbert »

zagrebian wrote: post #90
KennyBlanken wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You seem to be unaware that intelligence services have been hoovering up internet traffic wholesale for decades, and that telcos do it internally as well. Verizon's "supercookie" is a great example.

But Mozilla is not a government agency or a telco.

Are government agencies somehow restricted to compromise telcos but not any other organization?

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#98

Post by noobermin »

gjsman-1000 wrote: post #8

I hate WebKit and Blink's domination as much as anyone, but rather than put up a strong fight, Firefox is begging to lose. And unfortunately, I can't help but admit that Firefox deserves to lose (not just from this, but from other terrible decisions added up), even if the consequences of a web monoculture are terrible.

How much of the drama of the last three years can be laid squarely at the feet of the CEO who gave themselves a raise right when they laid off the MDN staff?

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#99

Post by kreeben »

zagrebian wrote: post #93
car_analogy wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would they need installer IDs? The question is if they collect it, not if they need it, and all their other behavior suggests that they do collect it.

The article explains why: to figure out why there are more installs than downloads.

Playing your game, why would Mozilla need to know this?

Re: Each Firefox download has a unique identifier

#100

Post by dylan604 »

systemvoltage wrote: post #76
car_analogy wrote: post #62

Suppose you want to do something anonymously. 1. Download installer from Mozilla from your home network - Mozilla now has your home IP and installer ID. 2. Transfer it via USB key to a secure, anonymous computer - one not linked to you, on a network not associated with you, such as public WiFi. 3. Install Firefox using that installer on said computer. It transmits the installer ID to Mozilla, which matches the one gi…

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

Isn't that just storing the domain name from which served the file? I actually find this useful for those times when I can't remember where a file came from but need to use the site again. Having that data in a Get Info windo has been useful and faster than web searching.
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