[SOLVED] Do we want Firefox 93 now that it is reported to track our address bar keystrokes

garpu · 10-10-2021, 08:49 AM

My issues with firefox have nothing to do with ideology of people working there, but everything to do with data being tracked. See also what Snowden alerted us to. That sort of tracking can be used for nefarious purposes just as easily as beneficial ones. (And I realize it's a losing battle to not be tracked these days. I like to have the option to turn it off whenever I can, which I still can in firefox.)

MadMaverick9 · 10-10-2021, 09:15 AM

And this is why this thread belongs in Slackware. Other distros already had this discussion or are having it now.

Manjaro Linux switched to Vivaldi as the default browser.

vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-is-the-default-browser-on-manjaro-linux/

Please do not move this thread to somewhere else.

marav · 10-10-2021, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMaverick9

And this is why this thread belongs in Slackware. Other distros already had this discussion or are having it now.

Manjaro Linux switched to Vivaldi as the default browser.

vivaldi.com/blog/vivaldi-is-the-default-browser-on-manjaro-linux/

Please do not move this thread to somewhere else.

I clearly hope this will never append here

elMoco · 10-10-2021, 01:50 PM

I honestly don't know the purpose of this debate.

There are few people that don't want to have anything to do with anything remotely related to tracking our activities. Good for you. IMHO that's a bit of paranoia and conspiracy theories, but as I said, that is only MY opinion.

But I really think there is a very easy way to fix that problem: you think Firefox (or any other software) is tracking you and you don't like it? Good, do not use it. That's all, simple.

RadicalDreamer · 10-10-2021, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyCyborg

So, I lived my first 20 years of life on Soviet Union and on the generalized paranoia within, where people feared even their neighborhoods, ONLY to not have the peace to visit an American Forum dedicated to a Linux operating system, because some people sees cops, FBI and KGB everywhere hunting their sorry arses?

Those keystrokes being reported back to Mozilla would be useful if there is another big event in the socioeconomic war for control between supporters of oligarchy and supporters of autocracy in unstable Western societies. I think it will be more socioeconomic sanctions instead of security forces hunting people down for thought crimes, but that will happen too because there is money in it. It doesn't have to be the government but other institutions controlled by oligarchs and their followers like tech companies and financial institutions. I see the suggestion stuff by Mozilla as an annoyance in the caged dumpster fire of Western discourse, maybe I'm wrong, but I have my suspicions. I should be chastised and reprimanded for posting about Western political disintegration on here but I can't help but connect the dots between that and Mozilla's actions. I've started to try to avoid looking up politically related stuff out of fear on the internet, Mozilla's actions will increase that even more, it doesn't matter either because both sides are terrible in my country, so there isn't much of a choice for me anyway.

I think Firefox should stay in Slackware because it needs to come with a mainstream browser that users like. It probably isn't more evil than Edge and Chrome, you can opt out of their shtick, but I'll be checking out alternatives because the more I think about it the more uncomfortable I become.

Gerard Lally · 10-10-2021, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuckyCyborg

So, I lived my first 20 years of life on Soviet Union and on the generalized paranoia within, where people feared even their neighborhoods, ONLY to not have the peace to visit an American Forum dedicated to a Linux operating system, because some people sees cops, FBI and KGB everywhere hunting their sorry arses?

What the financiers did to Eastern Europe in the 20th century was just a practice run for what they intend the whole world to suffer in the 21st.

Pithium · 10-10-2021, 05:49 PM

There are plenty of other reasons to not use firefox. The removal of FTP, bad UI/UX decisions and the dumbing down of their Preferences options have all given me reason to look elsewhere. Collecting user metrics isn't the solution, it's the problem.

The morons at Mozilla are trying to imitate the whole "metrics-driven" design philosophy of Big Tech but are too stupid to realize that it doesn't actually work that way. Seriously, people have been slowly leaving firefox for years now and their own data shows it.
https://data.firefox.com/dashboard/user-activity

It's either malice or stupidity at this point, and both are equally dangerous.

TheRealGrogan · 10-10-2021, 06:46 PM

Does anyone outside the U.S. actually have "Contextual Suggestions" implemented yet?

I build my own Firefox (and I'm in Canada) and I don't have that setting yet in Firefox 93.0

I want to know how in the Hell it would it know I'm in Canada, to not enable that code? Or is it only the official binaries, based on language selection, that have it at this time or something?

LuckyCyborg · 10-10-2021, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRealGrogan

Does anyone outside the U.S. actually have "Contextual Suggestions" implemented yet?

I build my own Firefox (and I'm in Canada) and I don't have that setting yet in Firefox 93.0

I want to know how in the Hell it would it know I'm in Canada, to not enable that code? Or is it only the official binaries, based on language selection, that have it at this time or something?

I guess that this lovely feature is reserved for the official binaries, and requires some new API keys at build time.

That's WHY you do not get those "Contextual Suggestions" ...

So, looks like our BDFL has a way to hard "opt-out" if he considers that.

LuckyCyborg · 10-10-2021, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gerard Lally

What the financiers did to Eastern Europe in the 20th century was just a practice run for what they intend the whole world to suffer in the 21st.

So, they want to create the Earth's Union of Soviet Socialist Republics?

That would work extremelly bad for them, because the first thing EUSSR will do, will be to confiscate all their wealth and properties.

Because of The State owned property, you know...

chrisretusn · 10-10-2021, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheRealGrogan

Does anyone outside the U.S. actually have "Contextual Suggestions" implemented yet?

I build my own Firefox (and I'm in Canada) and I don't have that setting yet in Firefox 93.0

I want to know how in the Hell it would it know I'm in Canada, to not enable that code? Or is it only the official binaries, based on language selection, that have it at this time or something?

I don't live in the US, Firefox Suggest is implemented. I build from the source SlackBuild in Slackware.

tauon · 10-11-2021, 01:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMaverick9

Another time when I came back to West Berlin from East Berlin with a bus, East German police/soldiers came into the bus with mirrors looking under the seats for stowaways.

Before Corona when you travel from Poland to Germany with a bus, German police stops the bus in Franfurt-an-der-Oder and checks every person, sometimes even the content of the bags. Interestingly enough: if you travel back from Germany to Poland, poles quite seldom stop buses.

Or you might say, that Eastern Germany doesn't change?

TheRealGrogan · 10-11-2021, 04:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrisretusn

I don't live in the US, Firefox Suggest is implemented. I build from the source SlackBuild in Slackware.

Yes, Search Suggestions, but not the Contextual Suggestions?

marav · 10-11-2021, 05:07 AM

If anyone is interested:

Code:

$ mkdir /usr/lib64/firefox/distribution

Code:

$ cat >> /usr/lib64/firefox/distribution/policies.json <<EOL
{
  "policies": {
    "DisableTelemetry": true,
    "DNSOverHTTPS": {
      "Enabled": false
    },
    "DontCheckDefaultBrowser": true,
    "NetworkPrediction": false,
    "DisablePocket": true,
    "SearchSuggestEnabled": false,
    "SearchEngines": {
      "PreventInstalls": true
    },
    "PasswordManagerEnabled": false,
    "Cookies": {
      "Default": true,
      "AcceptThirdParty": "from-visited",
      "RejectTracker": true,
      "Locked": true
    },
    "EnableTrackingProtection": {
      "Value": true,
      "Cryptomining": true,
      "Fingerprinting": true
    },
  }
}
EOL

EDIT: you can make your own with additions
https://github.com/mozilla/policy-te...ster/README.md

LuckyCyborg · 10-11-2021, 05:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marav

If anyone is interested:

Code:

$ mkdir /usr/lib64/firefox/distribution

Code:

$ cat >> /usr/lib64/firefox/distribution/policies.json <<EOL
{
  "policies": {
    "DisableTelemetry": true,
    "DNSOverHTTPS": {
      "Enabled": false
    },
    "DontCheckDefaultBrowser": true,
    "NetworkPrediction": false,
    "DisablePocket": true,
    "SearchSuggestEnabled": false,
    "SearchEngines": {
      "PreventInstalls": true
    },
    "PasswordManagerEnabled": false,
    "Cookies": {
      "Default": true,
      "AcceptThirdParty": "from-visited",
      "RejectTracker": true,
      "Locked": true
    },
    "EnableTrackingProtection": {
      "Value": true,
      "Cryptomining": true,
      "Fingerprinting": true
    },
  }
}
EOL

Monsieur Marav, how you dare to debunk so brutally their conspiracy theories?

How cruel! Now they should find another reason(s) to keep on their tinfoil hats...