Firefox is malware?

[FranklyFlawless]

If you are using upstream mobile-config-firefox, their policies.json has changed the value to false and marked the status as locked:

Mozilla buys an ad metrics company

mobile-config-firefox has this issue covered in their latest commit for policies.json: I currently have a private Codeberg repository for a Firefox profile, so my plan is to make it public once I have enumerated enough user.js configuration values for feature-parity against @arkenfox, @yokoffing, and @pyllyukko, alongside deploying at least a DNS-over-HTTPS(/2) server.

postmarketOS has since archived that GitLab repository.

[carlosgonz]

@amano

Calling firefox a malware is a bit misleading.

I was a bit aggressive, but it may falls into the Malware category already.

[irvinewade]

@FranklyFlawless

If you are using upstream mobile-config-firefox

No, sorry, this is Firefox 131 on a desktop and I don’t have that package. I’ll have to look more closely.

---

Update:

It’s an interaction with

Firefox Data Collection and Use
☐ Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla

Once you turn that off, it also turns off and locks

Website Advertising Preferences
☐ Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement

[carlosgonz]

@irvinewade

Strangely, that setting is “off” and “greyed out” for me i.e. I can’t even turn it on (not that I want to).

I wonder if there’s more to the story here.

Ubuntu has a little more Compassion for its Users as far i know than the Evil Fedora, it is possible that Ubuntu would have disabled that option in a mandatory way.

[FranklyFlawless]

Right, I forgot changing that setting does that.

[amano]

I think increasing privacy violation is a philosophical problem. You can describe such problems endlessly without finding a solution.

We should focus on solutions intead of problems. We will waste a lot of time if we focus on problems instead of solutions.

Purism cannot offer philosophical solutions to philosophical problems. It can only offer technical solutions.

It’s good to know that firefox will probably increase privacy violation, but it is not productive to describe the problem in lengthy details. Just knowing the gist is sufficient.

The technical solution would be to ship a hardened browser in pure os.

[FranklyFlawless]

Purism already attempted to do that years ago:

An Epiphany regarding Purebrowser – Purism

The migration to Epiphany has been less about enlightenment and more about development hell.

[amano]

@carlosgonz

i have never been interested in trying it and to the date from today i have never tried it as it looks like a “Libre” Opensource Honeypot.

I have used librewolf for years. It is certainly a lot more private than firefox by default.

If you want to judge a software, at least use it or look into it a bit. That’s like judging a book solely by its cover.

I can recommend librewolf for desktop linux.

[FranklyFlawless]

As long as you do not mind push notifications being served by Google.

[carlosgonz]

@amano

I have used librewolf for years. It is certainly a lot more private than firefox by default.

So youre meaning that Librewolf could be a hardened browser for Gnu Pure OS?

[amano]

It can be considered at least. There are other options I haven’t considered, yet.

Maybe, icecat? I don’t know.

[carlosgonz]

@amano

Maybe, icecat? I don’t know.

I love Gnu Icecat. However for some technical reason i use Netsurf+Wireguard on my PowerPC and Gnu OS.

[amano]

Frequently Asked Questions – LibreWolf says

LibreWolf also maintains an open WebSocket towards Mozilla’s push server to check wether you have received push notifications from websites you have subscribed to.
With that being said, LibreWolf is still committed to removing all privacy invading connections, and to keep all connections to the bare minimum required to maximize and balance privacy and security.

Librewolf connects to mozilla instead of google for push notifications.

I don’t mind push notifications too much. If you don’t personally use it, mozilla won’t get your personal information. The most they get will be your IP address if you don’t use it.

[FranklyFlawless]

@amano

Librewolf connects to mozilla instead of google for push notifications.

Already addressed in a different topic:

Backdoor in FireFox in Kali and Parrot OSes (and others)

No, but my perspective of them is still primarily limited to just this one Codeberg and the associated GitLab thread, so it may not necessarily reflect them as a whole. Basically, the main point is that in order to use push notifications in Firefox, it is required to serve them from a server hosted by Google and operated by Mozilla. Here is the relevant article about the feature itself. The most important quote is this one. So assuming you want to know my perspective on the LibreWolf team’…

[Ick]

I think this is disabled on Firefox ESR by default while it was not on the normal Firefox when it was released.

[carlosgonz]

@Ick

I think this is disabled on Firefox ESR by default while it was not on the normal Firefox when it was released.

Irvinewade said he has Firefox 131, and that number is not ESR

[Ick]

Then Mozilla may disabled it in all versions after initial release (maybe thanks to negative feedback).

[amano]

Whatever it is, I don’t think push notification enabled by librewolf is a deal breaker for Pure OS.

[FranklyFlawless]

Purism has a strong stance against Big Tech, enough that they changed the default search engine in Firefox ESR from Google to DuckDuckGo in Byzantium. While DuckDuckGo technically proxies queries to Bing, I doubt that any direct connections and references to Google or other Big Tech entities will be tolerated in PureOS due to Purism’s status as a Social Purpose Corporation.