“Last month, Mozilla made a quiet change in Firefox that caused some diehard users to revolt…”
All I need is mozilla on android to be able to load local html files.
It’s the only reason I left.
It’s the only reason I will return.
I made a very simple HTML page to count the money for my work. I’ve tried everything and I ended up hosting it just to be able to access it from Firefox. It might work with Android, I don’t know, but on this internet aids MIUI it’s impossible. But MIUI is just some pimped Android so chances are it’s the same.
I managed to open it locally in chrome (spits), but the URL didn’t even say the usual file path but some sus looking mi.com address, so I’ll stick with just hosting it.
If I understand all this correctly, Mozilla teamed up with Meta to create a method that helps advertisers in a user privacy-friendly way. Aside from the initial trigger people have here reading the word “Meta” or by just the existence of ads, is there any problematic with this, without going really deep into tinfoil hat territory?
Also, am I understanding it correctly that the outrage is mainly because this feature is enabled by default? So again, a function that helps protecting your privacy, is enabled by default? Because, it seems most people just offended by only this fact alone.
But I’m maybe missing something here.
Yeah, they failed to communicate it. Which people chose to interpret in the most uncharitable way. “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.” - Hanlon’s razor
Misconceptions about Firefox’s Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement – Andrew Moore
Of course people who complain about this loudly are most likely people who block all ads and tracking anyway so it doesn’t even affect them. My ideal would be the total ban of all advertising. Then let the free market sort it out lol.
Because Mozilla promised us privacy, and “privacy-friendly” ad tracking is still worse privacy than not baking ad tracking into the browser in the first place.
And they tried to sneak it in under the radar because they knew they were being sketchy.
Because Mozilla promised us privacy, and “privacy-friendly” ad tracking is still worse privacy than not baking ad tracking into the browser in the first place.
I don’t think “privacy” works in a way you snap your fingers, and bam, you have privacy, without any progress or stations in your way. Especially in today’s web. Also, it’s not just on Mozilla. On the contrary. I feel like Mozilla is the only “bigger name” in this market who tries to navigate in this shitstormy sea that is the web now.
Tho, it’s just me, but it sounds much better if my browser handles all the tracking and data sharing business in a controlled manner with advertisers in a “privacy-friendly” way than no control overall (especially since it’s Firefox and not Chrome/Edge), hoping only the other side would respect my preferences and requests.
But in the end, as I read other comments here, the problem is just the default state of the checkbox, got it. Feels a bit silly - in this particular case - but I can understand it.
Does not “help protecting privacy”, that is marketing. It’s a system for ads that track you in a more privacy-friendly way then other alternatives.
Peoples are mostly angry at the fact that they just silently slipped this system in without asking for consent.
Peoples are mostly angry at the fact that they just silently slipped this system in without asking for consent.
But why? Does it expose more data? More sensitive data than before?
What I don’t get, but maybe because of the lack of information I have on the topic is that if it’s better in terms of data privacy than before, or is it better if it’s turned on than off, why is it such a great problem, if it’s turned on by default? In this case, not turning it on would be something that one should be noted. Any technical, real-world reasons why not giving my consent to enable this feature gives reason to get mad, or is this really just about “not having a choice”, regardless the outcome?
What I don’t get, but maybe because of the lack of information I have on the topic
Exactly. That’s also the issue there. It was opt-out by default AND didn’t seemed to give enough info to the end-user about what it does, and why it would be better to keep it enabled. Most people, complain about the forced default decision without any notice, and without any appropriate info to understand if it was a decent change or not. You should only enable it, IF you understand and ablige to what it does.
Is it possible to turn off PPA on firefox/fennec mobile? (android)
Laura Chambers, who stepped into an interim CEO role at Mozilla in February, says the company is reinvesting in Firefox after letting it languish in recent years,
It’s sort of amusing to me that Mozilla would let the Firefox browser languish. Is that not the raison d’etre of your entire organization? What are you doing with your time and effort if you are allowing your core product to languish? What would people say if Microsoft said “yeah, we’ve allowed windows to languish in recent years.” What an insane notion.
They’ve got thunderbird which is as far as I know the only serious alternative to outlook.
And I wouldn’t call it serious, the performance is atrocious.
It’s so bad I went and installed outlook from 2016
You’re not arguing from a position of strength if your personal anecdote is performance issues, 8 years ago.
What would people say if Microsoft said “yeah, we’ve allowed windows to languish in recent years.”
Well, I think they did let it languish, if looking at it being enshittified in recent last ~10 years. Also, it’s not their core product anymore. Almost nobody buys a windows license anymore, because piracy was already high, and they let you keep your license from the previous version so whether you had one or not, most probably now you have.
I think Microsoft’s core product has not been windows for a long time, but their cloud services, and maybe office and the other common business tools.
Let me tell my management they no longer have to pay windows license for the ~10,000 user machines, and then the servers.
While a single consumer can get away with it (and MS doesn’t care because it means they’re using Windows and likely using MS services, all while getting telemetry from the desktops), it’s far from “nobody buys a windows license any more”.
Even SMB’s will pay, because if they don’t MS will hammer them financially. No SMB could stand up to what MS can do to them - $200 windows license is cheap insurance.
average firefox user: screeching on the internet for weeks about some minor new feature or change
me: unticks a box and moves on with my life
It was a hidden, opt-out feature.
But thanks for your denigrating comment. We now know the value of your thoughts.
You should perhaps watch this: “Taking Control of Your Personal Data” by prof. Jennifer Golbeck, published by The Teaching Company, ISBN:978-1629978390, likely available at your local library as a DVD or streaming.
I suspect you don’t realize the extent of the tracking occurring today.
