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Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

(support.mozilla.org)
757 points shak77 | 12 comments | 15 Dec 17 13:47 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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proaralyst ◴[15 Dec 17 14:18 UTC] No.15931920[source]▶
Looks like it's a promo for Mr Robot, which is really not ok.

> What's happening? Are you a fan of Mr Robot? Are you trying to solve one of the many puzzles that the Mr Robot team has built? You’re on the right track. Firefox and Mr Robot have collaborated on a shared experience to further your immersion into the Mr Robot universe, also known as an Alternate Reality Game (ARG). The effects you’re seeing are a part of this shared experience.[0]

EDIT: looking at this[1] comment, perhaps it's not a promo?

[0]: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/lookingglass [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/7jh9rv/what_is_loo...

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1. nkrisc ◴[15 Dec 17 14:25 UTC] No.15931979[source]▶
Wow. So Mozilla lets advertisers push extensions to your browser? Is that right or am I misunderstanding something?
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2. icebraining ◴[15 Dec 17 14:47 UTC] No.15932151[source]▶
It seems to be developed by Mozilla employees, which is less terrible than allowing actual third-party addons, and it's disabled by default, but still - pretty distasteful.
3. teamhappy ◴[15 Dec 17 14:52 UTC] No.15932195[source]▶
> So Mozilla lets advertisers push extensions to your browser?

Of course not.

Mozilla can install extensions if you have "shield studies" enabled. They use extensions it to run UI studies and things like that. I think you have to opt-in to each study individually if you want to be part of it. Enabling the studies in your settings only means "notify me when there's a new study I can participate in".

See https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/shield and https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies

Now they have partnered with Mr Robot to use the same feature to offer some sort of "Alternate Reality Game".

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4. ◴[15 Dec 17 14:59 UTC] No.15932251[source]▶
5. pbhjpbhj ◴[15 Dec 17 15:18 UTC] No.15932375[source]▶
That sounds like "no they haven't pushed an unsolicited advert at all ... except to people who offered to be in a development program, who they've pushed an unsolicited advert to" ...
replies(1): >>15932562 #
6. nkrisc ◴[15 Dec 17 15:22 UTC] No.15932392[source]▶
But it appears from the link thread that there was no individual opt-in to this particular study, done for what appears to be the purposes of advertising. Clearly it's not as bad as what I first thought it to be, but still sounds fishy.
7. teamhappy ◴[15 Dec 17 15:43 UTC] No.15932562{3}[source]▶
I was talking about advertisers running code in your browser. I think you have to opt-in to participate in one of the studies, so that's not happening without your consent.

It looks like Firefox auto-installs the studies though if you've enabled the feature. But it only activates the individual extensions for the studies once you've opted in to participate.

The extensions themselves need to be approved by a bunch of people at mozilla (at least for the normal studies). So I guess nothing bad can happen until you click "participate" or whatever they call it.

Still, I would also consider the notification itself to be an ad. This was obviously a bad idea and I don't want anyone to think I'm defending it. I guess they've chosen to abuse their shield studies for this because it's the only way for them to send notifications to the browser, but that's no excuse. I have the studies disabled anyway but now I'm not even going to consider ever turning them on.

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8. roywiggins ◴[15 Dec 17 15:49 UTC] No.15932589{4}[source]▶
I never knowingly opted in to anything and found both the "Studies" section and the "pug-experience" study turned on just now in about:studies. I don't know if it really is meant to be opt-in, but it certainly didn't seem like they've done it correctly.
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9. teamhappy ◴[15 Dec 17 16:18 UTC] No.15932833{5}[source]▶
The wiki page says that no changes are made until you opt in. Can you tell if you're part of the game? (I assume you'd be able to tell somehow)
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10. talmand ◴[15 Dec 17 16:39 UTC] No.15933018{6}[source]▶
I did not recall agreeing to opt-in for the studies and there it is under Privacy & Security as checked.

I have the pug experience study active and I don't recall the browser asking about it.

From the studies about page linked from about:studies...

"When a study is available, you will automatically be enrolled if you meet the criteria. There will be occasions where we might prompt you for participation first."

Just saw also that if you opt-in for the "Allow Firefox Developer Edition to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla" then it automatically checks the studies checkbox for you. I would wonder if I checked the allow sharing at some point in the past, or during installation, with no mention of the studies option. So it was presumed to opt me into the studies automatically.

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11. throwaway2048 ◴[15 Dec 17 17:48 UTC] No.15933557{7}[source]▶
It is also active for me, and there is zero chance id ever opt into this garbage.
12. GrayShade ◴[15 Dec 17 17:53 UTC] No.15933598{6}[source]▶
Most shield studies are opt-out: https://www.jeffersonscher.com/sumo/shield.php (filter by "extensions").