Mozilla Slipped a 'Mr. Robot'-Promo Plugin Into Firefox and Users Are Pissed (gizmodo.com)

MarcAuslander shares a report from Gizmodo: Mozilla sneaked a browser plugin that promotes Mr. Robot into Firefox -- and managed to piss off a bunch of its privacy-conscious users in the process. The extension, called Looking Glass, is intended to promote an augmented reality game to "further your immersion into the Mr. Robot universe," according to Mozilla. It was automatically added to Firefox users' browsers this week with no explanation except the cryptic message, "MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT THAN YOURS," prompting users to worry on Reddit that they'd been hit with spyware. Without an explanation included with the extension, users were left digging around in the code for Looking Glass to find answers. Looking Glass was updated for some users today with a description that explains the connection to Mr. Robot and lets users know that the extension won't activate without explicit opt-in.

Mozilla justified its decision to include the extension because Mr. Robot promotes user privacy. "The Mr. Robot series centers around the theme of online privacy and security," the company said in an explanation of the mysterious extension. "One of the 10 guiding principles of Mozilla's mission is that individuals' security and privacy on the internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional. The more people know about what information they are sharing online, the more they can protect their privacy."

Comments

One step forward, two back

[grasshoppa]

If they were trying to win back Chrome users, this is a pretty effective way to sabotage their efforts.

I hope they were paid a shitload of cash for this little stun, because it's gonna cost them.

Re:One step forward, two back

[Dutch Gun]

“Firefox worked with the Mr. Robot team to create a custom experience that would surprise and delight fans of the show and our users. It’s especially important to call out that this collaboration does not compromise our principles or values regarding privacy. The experience does not collect or share any data,” Jascha Kaykas-Wolff, chief marketing officer of Mozilla, said in a statement to Gizmodo. “The experience was kept under wraps to be introduced at the conclusion of the season of Mr. Robot. We gave Mr. Robot fans a unique mystery to solve to deepen their connection and engagement with the show and is only available in Firefox.”

So, no apologies for those of us who spotted it, freaked out, and spent a bunch of time trying to figure out WTF this was, and if it was malicious or not.

Seriously, on what planet do you essentially prank all your users with a stunt like this? I was actually pretty happy with Firefox after the Quantum update, as it went better than I was expecting. After that, I immediately turned off telemetry and experiments, because they've now abused my trust with this stunt.

And now comes this statement, doubling down on their incredibly poor judgment. This is the last straw for me. If Mozilla had been the least bit contrite, I might have forgiven this. I've been using Firefox almost since it's inception 15 years ago. That ends today.

Re: One step forward, two back

[Anonymous Coward]

Another surprise was hearing that NPR is still in business.

Re:One step forward, two back

[TuringTest]

> After that, I immediately turned off telemetry and experiments, because they've now abused my trust with this stunt.

If you had those turned on, how is this an abuse of your trust? You had given them permission to do anything with your browser. If you don't want anti-privacy measures in Firefox, don't turn them on.

Re: When browsers jump the shark

[Anonymous Coward]

Mozilla has no business installing add-ons without user consent, especially when it's done quietly in the background. This is the type of behavior that one would expect from malware, and it may well be illegal. I am seriously considering filing a lawsuit against the Mozilla Foundation under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

Re:What Config Key Do I Disable/Delete?

[Anonymous Coward]

(Sorry, can't logon from AC on this machine)

I really don't mind phoning home anymore since literally everything does it. At least Chrome provides useful reasons for being online like url auto completion and integration with my google cloud stuff like remembering my bookmarks.

What I REALLY FIND OFFENSIVE is when products (whoever they are, Google, Mozilla, Apple, whatever) install things without telling me, ESPECIALLY if they're written by a third party. I may trust Google, or Mozilla, but that doesn't mean I magically trust whatever third party they whored themselves out to.

It may be an illusion that we control our PCs anymore. But any actor that intentionally violates that illusion (like Apple downloading a free U2 album to your phone) feels like a violation. It's like someone walked into your home while you were asleep and baked you a cake. "Hey, you've got a free cake! Why aren't you happy?" ... "Because you came in without asking while I was asleep!" and then these companies are asking us, "Don't you trust me?"

Re: When browsers jump the shark

[retchdog]

well, yeah, of course they can be. i'm just wondering what you're going to show them as damages.

Re:When browsers jump the shark

[jellomizer]

I want a browser to be fast, secure and protect my privacy. I don’t want it to tell me what I should watch or think.
I may want Firefox for reasons different then the organization goals. I don’t appreciate getting stuff pushed on me.

Re:"privacy-conscious users"

[Anonymous Brave Guy]

Things are changing so fast and so broadly that the only way to keep up is to make that trade off.

What an odd thing to write. We used to compensate people who provided new things we liked to have by paying them.

The reason privacy is dying is because invading privacy has become profitable, and that in turn is because it provided a way to monetize people using a service or enjoying some digital content online without them having to do anything or even necessarily realising what was going on.

Google and Facebook, with their culture of spying-for-ads, and Apple, with its app store culture of software-costing-$3-is-expensive, have much to answer for.