Firefox quietly enabled a supposed “privacy feature” that tracks users - noyb files complaint today!
Read more here: https://noyb.eu/en/firefox-tracks-you-privacy-preserving-feature
@noybeu The ending paragraphs are misleading. The feature is *also* disabled if telemetry is enabled, and possibly doesn't actually do anything yet: https://mastodon.social/@jamesh@aus.social/112834742534943109
@ravensrod @noybeu Thanks for the link. Is #Waterfox a fork of #Firefox?
@LukasBrausch @noybeu
Seems to be built on similar code, works just like #firefox with a few subtle changes
@ravensrod @LukasBrausch @noybeu yes, it's a fork of Firefox.
@LukasBrausch @ravensrod It's a fork of Firefox ESR.
@ravensrod @noybeu that is what I use, #waterfox for the win @Waterfox
@ravensrod @noybeu Waterfox was bought by a private ad company and now it tracks you too. Try LibreWolf for actual privacy - https://librewolf.net/
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/privacy/comments/f3gqoc/privacy_browser_waterfox_appears_to_be_sold_to/
@moskitokoenig @noybeu @mozilla They are desperately looking for new revenue streams, afraid that Google search will not be allowed to sponsor them in the future, after that recent court ruling. This is probably why they started testing A.I. features.
It's the enshittification of Mozilla i.m.h.o :)
@noybeu "users can't make an informed decision".
Go to hell Firefox.
@onecreativecat
Users will not be allowed to make a decision because we know what they'll choose
The only way for users to turn it off is to find the opt-out function in a sub-menu of the browser’s settings.
Where? Preferably, what do I need to switch in about:config, so I don’t need to deal with a localisation?
@Lili
To check or disable if it's enabled you could either type in the address bar: "about:preferences#privacy" or in Settings under the "Privacy and Security" section scroll down until you see "Website Advertising Preferences" and uncheck the check-mark if it's checked.
@noybeu FFS, can't a man get a break from all this tracking bullshit for a millisecond?
"The only way for users to turn it off is to find the opt-out function in a sub-menu of the browser’s settings."
Yet the article doesn't tell you how to turn it off.
@noybeu Co to tam zase proboha dělají?
@martinkroul @noybeu Mozilla předstírá, že jí záleží na našem soukromí
@sheislaurence ITT: but I wanna be outraged!! uwu!!! /s
@sheislaurence @noybeu Thank you. They should've included this already
@noybeu
Wtf mozilla?
How to disable on desktop:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/privacy-preserving-attribution#w_how-can-i-disable-ppa
Has anyone figured out if this also exists on mobile and how to disable it?
@s_hentzschel Hattest Du das Feature nicht auf dem Blog verharmlost? Noyb liegt also in seiner Analyse ebenfalls falsch, wie so ziemlich alle anderen? ^^
@frumble Ich habe überhaupt nichts „verharmlost“, sondern mich sachlich mit dem Thema auseinander gesetzt. Das ist schon wieder so ein Diskussionseinstieg von dir, dass ich darauf verzichten werde, den Link auch nur anzuklicken. Ich sage es immer wieder: Für eine seriöse Diskussion ist die Herangehensweise entscheidend. Voreingenommenheit verhindert jede sachliche Diskussion. Außerdem habe ich sowieso nichts mehr zu ergänzen, in meinem Artikel steht alles, was ich dazu sagen möchte.
@frumble @s_hentzschel noyb könnte seine Ressourcen sinnvoller einsetzen. Ich werde meine Mitgliedschaft ein Jahr pausieren und das Geld in OSS investieren.
@noybeu One of their technical directors was on Mastodon talking about this in a comment thread a couple of months ago and I had a long conversation with him. From what I gather, they're trying to find ways to make money in the least offensive ways possible because they're kind of struggling in the market.
That being said, if your whole market angle is that you're a privacy-focused alternative to Chrome, then this kind of thing is not a good look, and may do more harm than good in the long run.
@bhawthorne @noybeu I think they would say that this method doesn't provide any identifiable information, compared to methods from other services which provide quite a bit.
@noybeu@mastodon.social
for Firefox 128 you can check if this is enabled and disable it
Step1:
- open a new window and put "about:config" in the url bar.
- Click through the Warning about potentially wrecking stuff
Step 2:
- You'll now be looking at a search field type in "dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled" to pull up the pref for the PPA
- if is says "dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled TRUE" double click on "TRUE" to change it to "false"
And that's it.
@noybeu If you're going to post something like this you should also post clear instructions on how to disable the option:
@noybeu
I'm using the latest Firefox (version 130.0.1) in Ubuntu, from snap.
The "Privacy-preserving attribution" option was off and the checkbox deactived so it cannot be set.
You should be safe if you are using a similar setup.
@noybeu "Contrary to its reassuring name, this technology allows Firefox to track user behaviour on websites. In essence, the browser is now controlling the tracking, rather than individual websites". Isn't this exactly what Chrome recently did?
A pox on both their houses.
@noybeu I use an ad blocker (honestly everyone should be) so Firefox’s preserving ad thingamajig is moot for me since I block all ads anyways. I just turned the setting off and got on with my life. It stinks, but at least it ain’t Google, which stinks far far worse.
@noybeu it's not enabled on 130 mobile or desktop, or to be accurate there's no sign of an opt-out.
Personally my problem with the browser generating pseudoanonymised tracking is that it implies a trust relationship that doesn't exist.
I'd rather it swallow silently as it does now. That forces advertising agents to be more honest. A static Ad that does nothing more than link you to your own page will get more reliable data than furtling about in the dark.
@noybeu LibreFox it is then
@noybeu My biggest grudge was how they didn't mention ANY of it in the changelog of the new version and I had to hear about this "feature" through users here on Mastodon.
@noybeu I'm waiting for Ladybird https://ladybird.org a new browser made from ground up and not based on anything. It's still in very early stage, but I hope it'll be a worthy competitor against established browsers like Chrome and even Firefox.
@noybeu Love you and financially support you, but you are wrong on this one. There is no PII ever collected, stored, or processed, so there is no GDPR violation. Aggregated counts of predefined, limited cardinality attributes of ads and conversions cannot be used to identify or track an individual or cohorts. These are the same techniques used by Plausible and other privacy-preserving analytics products that do not require consent screens.
@noybeu@mastodon.social
Completely fucking hypocritical. Mozilla dropped the ball here.
@noybeu @fj When will people learn that some of us don’t want “privacy preserving ad tracking.” We don’t want any kind of tracking, because we don’t want ads. To be honest, I am less concerned with privacy than I am with ads. I don’t really care if some random website I visit knows that I am a senior, beard-wearing, male-presenting, mostly-cis, pan/ace, white, nature-loving atheist-animist (okay that’s enough intersectional labels) guy from New England with a penchant for coffee, chocolate, and cannabis. As long as they don’t show me ads. Ever. Got that browser and website designers. We. Don’t. Want. To. See. Advertisements. Find another business model.
La documentation de Firefox en français au sujet de cette fonctionnalité expérimentale :
"Notre espoir est que si nous développons une bonne solution d’attribution, elle offrira une vraie alternative à des pratiques plus contestables comme le pistage. Nous testons actuellement cette approche pour voir si elle peut fournir aux annonceurs les informations qu’ils recherchent."
Éternel débat entre une radicalité qui pourrait ne jamais aboutir, et la recherche d'avancées au prix de compromis.
https://support.mozilla.org/fr/kb/attribution-respectant-vie-privee