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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."
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."
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.
Mod me down with all of your hatred and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
"The Mr. Robot series centers around the theme of online privacy and security. 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."
So yeah, let surreptitiously install plugins on everyone's browsers.
So I disabled the addon as soon as I read the article, and I am legit mad that Mozilla would do this, but... what does the addon actually do? I didn't notice any difference before disabling it, and I've dug through all the links and nobody seems to be saying what it does.
Even if it was just a blank addon, no effect other than putting what's essentially an ad into my addon list (pun unintended), that would be bad, but it would be less bad than if it actually disrupted the browser in some way.
Mozilla's half-assed apology seems to indicate the addon only starts doing things once you "opt-in", with no mention of how or where one would do that. Which is probably the least evil way you could do this, I'll admit.
(I wonder if this has anything to do with the weird XSS blocking dialog NoScript threw three times earlier today. It was blocking an XSS attempt between two domains, neither of which was open in any browser tab at the time.)
Editor, A1-AAA AmeriCaptions
Don't forget disabling all existing privacy extensions. Oh, and mails you get from Mozilla are pure gold: "Keep trackers off your trail" blah blah "evade tracking technology" blah blah "https://click.e.mozilla.org/?qs=e7bb0dcf14b1013fca3820..."
The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
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.
If you hadn't enabled telemetry and studies, you wouldn't see it. Also, given that it's some sort of marketing tie-in to Mr. Robot, it might very well be US only.
Irony: Agile development has too much intertia to be abandoned now.
The extension was able to be installed if you had the "Firefox Studies" checkbox selected. To prevent Firefox Studies from installing extensions on your behalf:
A little Googling leads me to think the Looking Glass add-on was installed via the Firefox built-in Shield Recipe Client Feature, also described here: Firefox/Shield/Shield Studies, which is documented as:
Shield is a Firefox user testing platform for proposed, new and existing features and ideas.
Shield Studies is a function of the Shield project that prompts a random population of users to help us try out new products, features, and ideas.
I have this disabled via the following pref.js settings:
// Disable Shield Recipe Client
user_pref("app.shield.optoutstudies.enabled", false);
user_pref("extensions.shield-recipe-client.enabled", false);
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
It seems to be a trend. I installed Chrome on a Linux partition and almost immediately, Yahoo tried to install their plugin into that browser.
Not forgetting Canonical's spyware which sent your local search queries for command options to their servers. It's anonymized they claim - well it isn't if your ISP decides to do a man-in-the-middle attack and deep packet inspection with your data.
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/201...
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Sorry folks, but Slashdot just revealed it's true colors. The chorus of OMG! WTF! down with Mozilla, witnessed in this thread is, sadly, proof that the Slashdot audience has become those who the hackers of yore were hacking against. Is there not an ounce of rebellious spirit left on this site? Whether you like the show, Mr. Robot, or not, I just can't fathom the reaction here.
For those those who say this is the last straw for Mozilla-good riddance, don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.
Look there are lots of things I could complain about regarding Firefox, but a chance wanderer coming to Slashdot would think this site is full of nothing but chrome shills and misanthropes who actually *hate* Free software. What made this site so interesting in days long ago was the tension between the rebellious spirit of Free Software and those who made their living working for the man or trying to make a living selling proprietary software. Nowadays corporate shills and libtards reign supreme on this site and the very notion that technology can actually be a source of societal change is completely and utterly lost.
Well duh maybe that's why most here don't even get what Mozilla is, what it represents and how much it actually changed the world around us.
But oh my God they rendered my extension useless, oh my God one of my 80 tabs is leaking memory, or Oh my God it takes a full 1.7 seconds to launch on a modern computer.
Oh well I guess I am just a fanboy, forgot to check the mail and get my check for promoting not only Firefox but Mozilla as a an organization, foundation and corporation. Am I the only idiot here who jumped for joy back in January of 1998 when the mozilla source code was made free and downloaded it just so I could see the code?
My guess is that anywhere from %30-50 of all currently existing jobs in software development wouldn't even exist without Free Software, and Mozilla did more to promote and garner mainstream acceptance of Free Software than the GNU movement ever dreamt of. In all likelihood there would be no Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon etc. without the courage and commitment that founded Mozilla. Alas without Richard Stallman and the GNU movement there probably would never have been a Mozilla.
Long live Mozilla
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.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
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.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.