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Unknown Mozilla dev addon "Looking Glass 1.0.3" on browser

(support.mozilla.org)
757 points shak77 | 9 comments | 15 Dec 17 13:47 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source | bottom
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blauditore ◴[15 Dec 17 16:23 UTC] No.15932880[source]▶
Many people seem to be shocked because Mozilla installed an add-on automatically. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter since the code is coming from Mozilla - they're building the whole browser, so they could introduce functionality anywhere. If someone distrusts their add-ons, why trust their browser at all?

The main question is what behavior is being introduced. I haven't researched deeply, but apparently the add-on does nothing until the user opts-in on studies.

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1. TAForObvReasons ◴[15 Dec 17 16:36 UTC] No.15932998[source]▶
If this were the first incident, and they quickly backtracked on it, then maybe we can give them a pass. But this isn't the first case of somewhat shady behavior. Remember the "user-enhancing" sponsored tiles a few years ago?

https://twitter.com/dherman76/status/433320156496789504

> Excited to share the launch of @mozilla @firefox Tiles program, the first of our user-enhancing programs

The problem there wasn't just the idea of putting ads in the browser, it was also the way in which they tried to present it as a useful addition just like every other ad company tries to defend ads

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2. callahad ◴[15 Dec 17 17:41 UTC] No.15933490[source]▶
That tweet sounds like doublespeak, but Directory Tiles really did have some genuinely good ideas mixed in with the bad.

I don't know how far we got with it, but one of the ideas was to serve a generic bundle of ads, and then select which ones to display locally, based on an entirely private, client-side analysis of the browser's history. Now, that probably shouldn't have been on the new tab page, and probably not in Firefox at all, but if ads are going to be the way we fund the Internet, then that sounded like the best possible outcome: better targeting without remote tracking. Heck, even Brave ran with the idea for a while: https://brave.com/about-ad-replacement/

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3. revelation ◴[15 Dec 17 18:43 UTC] No.15934002[source]▶
You think because your code is running native you can spy on me better for ad purposes, and that's a feature? That is just tone-deaf.
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4. smacktoward ◴[15 Dec 17 18:49 UTC] No.15934052{3}[source]▶
The whole point is that they weren't spying on you. The observations of your behavior were made entirely client-side, in your browser, and never passed back to Mozilla or anybody else.

Defining that as "spying" strikes me as a big reach. It's no more spying than (say) Windows observing what programs you use most and adding shortcuts to them in your Start menu. Software adapting itself to fit the user better is a good thing, as long as it's done in a way that respects the user's privacy, which keeping the data 100% local absolutely does.

5. dang ◴[15 Dec 17 19:05 UTC] No.15934174{3}[source]▶
This breaks the HN guidelines. Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Edit: we've had to warn you a lot. Continuing to break the guidelines ends in bannage, so please clean up your act.

6. ubernostrum ◴[15 Dec 17 19:13 UTC] No.15934231[source]▶
There are things I don't agree with that Mozilla does, but I will stand up for that one. The idea behind the "tiles" was to try to figure out a way to do privacy-respecting ads. And if you look at how it actually worked... it was actually a really good plan for how that could happen.

Mozilla's job is to find ways to push the web forward in ways that respect humans, and ads are, well, how the web mostly gets funded. So it's entirely within bounds for them to try to figure out ways to make ads work without invading people's privacy.

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7. hutzlibu ◴[15 Dec 17 19:56 UTC] No.15934534[source]▶
Maybe if that was actually the goal, it might have been a good thing. But all I received was marketing blabla to tell ads are enhancement.

And if Mozilla really are different, then they should communicate different - honest.

8. bigbugbag ◴[15 Dec 17 22:45 UTC] No.15935899[source]▶
The only good ideas about tiles were lifted of opera and better implemented in extensions.

Serving ads is never a good idea, and no, ads are not the way we fund the Internet, commercial ads is what is destroying the WWW and the Internet.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/08/adver...

https://thenextweb.com/eu/2017/06/09/pirate-bay-founder-weve...

9. Simon_says ◴[17 Dec 17 02:39 UTC] No.15943700[source]▶
I've recently switched to a browser that doesn't fund itself through ads. It's not an iron law of the universe that the Internet needs ads to function.