Are they TRYING to speedrun losing their credibility?
I need a new browser. :(
Remember: Mozilla killed mozilla the app long before it killed Mozilla the company.
Right so what browser should I use now??? 😡
No no, guys Mozilla are the good guys. They never did something nasty like bundling tons of spyware and 3rd party calls with Firefox nor adding unique IDs to every installation. Mozilla also acquired an ad analytics company recently for some reason.
Wtf happened in the last month? Everyone used to love and jerk off Mozilla and suddenly we hate them?
Nothing, not everyone liked it, the only difference is that my comment would result in a shit show of downvotes last week while not people are starting to realize what Mozilla/Firefox really is. Mozilla was never the "all savior" pained them to be and it only took Wireshark and a couple of minutes to see it.
adding unique IDs to every installation.
I wasn't familiar with that so I did a quick search. For anyone else interested here is some info about it:
- Each Firefox download has a unique identifier -ghacks, Mar. 2022
"Internet users who download the Firefox web browser from the official Mozilla website get a unique identifier attached to the installer that is submitted to Mozilla on install and first run."
[...]
"Firefox users who prefer to download the browser without the unique identifier may do so in the following two ways:"
-
Download the Firefox installer from Mozilla's HTTPS repository (formerly the FTP repository).
-
Download Firefox from third-party download sites that host the installer, e.g., from Softonic.
"The downloaded installers do not have the unique identifier, as they are identical whenever they are downloaded."
In the comments section someone says:
"It seems that getting Firefox from GNU/Linux repos (Debian, etc.), doesn’t come with unique IDs."
Yeah repositories and FTP don't include that, but it is kind shady that the first way to get it (website) for the majority of regular users (Windows/macOS) has a unique ID - after all this is the company that goes all in for privacy...
bundling tons of spyware
I couldn't find any info about this with a quick search. Do you have any links to where I can read more about this?
That is blatantly false. Don't even waste your time.
Just fire up Wireshark and inspect what Firefox calls, a lot of calling home and even if you change all the settings and config parameters to something sane it will still contact a 3rd party analytics company. Mozilla also acquired an ad analytics company recently for some reason.
I have this in user.js:
// settings user-test-programm
user_pref("app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled", false);
// dont use me as guinea pig
user_pref("app.normandy.enabled", false);
user_pref("app.normandy.optoutstudies.enabled", false);
user_pref("messaging-system.rsexperimentloader.enabled", false);
// side-loading of telemetry-extension
user_pref("extensions.systemAddon.update.enabled", false);
// disable Mozillas new tracking aggragation thingy
user_pref("dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled", false,);
// almost only for tracking useful
user_pref("beacon.enabled", false); // so webpage can send (tracking) data before you close tab
user_pref("browser.send_pings", false); // hyperlink auditing (click-tracking)
Note: the last two are more nuanced.
Argument for beacon is that webpages will use a more intrusive way with noticeable delay to upload data on tab close. I personally prefer that, as a warning, but never saw one after years.
Argument for send_pings is, that trackers will use more mean and stealthier ways to track you, if they don't have that interface (same as in private-attribution). I do know however, that companies who track you have high greed and low morale to begin with, and use all they can get to generate more money.
I genuinely believe that the Mozilla board is secretly working for Google. They already get most of their funding from that search engine deal, is a backroom agreement to slowly run the organization into the ground in order to force the last holdouts over to Chrome that hard to believe?
It's in Google's interest to keep Firefox/Mozilla alive to skirt antitrust laws, so any backdoor deal would be more making Chrome alternatives not look too attractive while keeping them on life support.
Don't ascribe intention where incompetence is enough.
It's better to treat incompetence as maliciousness, than to treat maliciousness as incompetence.
The benefit of the doubt should only apply in the absence of a longstanding pattern of behavior to the contrary.
IMO Mozilla has run out of goodwill.
IMO Alphabet has run out of goodwill by abusing their market dominance in a more overt way.
Looking forward to more aggressive action by FTC, note that tech donors have asked Harris for Lina Khan's removal as a quid pro quo.
I don't think they're working for Google but I'm convinced that they're trying to setup their own advertising business
Trying to get some of that sweet ad revenue money
but Google controls so much of everything that of course they're indirectly funded by Google, so it may look like they're working for Google
In this Tecnofeudalist reality that we live in, we all indirectly work for our feudal lords Google / Meta / Amazon. We are granted their grace and allowed to exist in their server space and use their internet cables. In return we have to work the land and give our data as a tribute.
Ok wtf is Moxilla doing? They know their company is built on good community perception, right?
They honestly have a monopoly in the sense that they are the only think not Chrome
I mean they've been pedaling AI crap for a while without negative backlash.
Similarly they tried to ride the Blockchain train back in the crypto scam days and also didn't face any backlash.
They've publicly vouched to become an AI company and an advertising company without backlash.
I think most Firefox users don't care
What they mean with AI features is also their offline website translation feature, which is something I've wanted for years. The alternative is online Google website translation.
I think most Firefox users don’t care
Oh we care, but there's no alternative besides Chrome and Safari and those companies are even worse (Google definitely is, anyway, Apple is debatable)
Luckily there's still alternatives like Librewolf that unfortunately still use Mozilla's browser engine.
I do hope the Servo project will be ready to use in a production browser soon.
Apple is definitely just as fucking terrible.
Honestly a lot of Firefox users are eyeing forks
I just canceled my MDN Plus subscription. Man, Mozilla has been so disappointing recently. I have to wonder if Google infiltrated them or something.
They are just really poorly managed
Sure, but it’s worth asking why the management is so poor. Many people have theorized that it’s because Google is pulling the strings; It would be in Google’s best interest to keep Firefox around on life support, because it helps them avoid antitrust lawsuits if they can point to Firefox and go “nope not every browser is Chromium based!” But it’s also in Google’s best interest to whittle Firefox’s usage down to near zero, which is what every single recent Mozilla decision has been aiming to do.
Mozilla was getting paid a lot of money by Google before Google got their hand slapped in an antitrust lawsuit. Many people have theorized that since that lawsuit, Google has pivoted to making deals directly with Mozilla’s management instead.
Firefox
A place to discuss the news and latest developments on the open-source browser Firefox