<story><title>Each Firefox download has a unique identifier</title><url>https://www.ghacks.net/2022/03/17/each-firefox-download-has-a-unique-identifier/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>abandonliberty</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t believe the apologists commenting on this.&lt;p&gt;Firefox put a lot of effort into tracking download to install behavior. Maybe this is the only violation you know about. There&amp;#x27;s no reason to continue to believe in Mozilla&amp;#x27;s good faith. They&amp;#x27;ve been captured, and are 90% dependent on Google revenue.&lt;p&gt;Discussion here: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28954390&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28954390&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firefox is dead. It&amp;#x27;s time to move past denial. It doesn&amp;#x27;t stand for anything you think it does. I&amp;#x27;m sad, too. Time to bury the putrid, rotting corpse.</text></item><item><author>car_analogy</author><text>Suppose you want to do something anonymously.&lt;p&gt;1. Download installer from Mozilla from your home network - Mozilla now has your home IP and installer ID.&lt;p&gt;2. Transfer it via USB key to a secure, anonymous computer - one not linked to you, on a network not associated with you, such as public WiFi.&lt;p&gt;3. Install Firefox using that installer on said computer. It transmits the installer ID to Mozilla, which matches the one given to your home IP, thereby deanonymizing you.&lt;p&gt;4. Mozilla receives a warrant for this information, or it is hacked, or the organization is infiltrated by a single government or corporate spy.&lt;p&gt;Edit: It gets worse. Suppose a newspaper IT department takes care of providing Firefox and other trusted software installers to their reporters. Now Mozilla can determine who that newspaper helped with IT, such as journalists or sources. Or if you provide trusted software to your friends, Mozilla gets part of your social graph.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pigbearpig</author><text>I can. I&amp;#x27;d still rather use Firefox than Chrome or Edge when it comes to privacy.  &amp;quot;Firefox is dead ... Time to bury the putrid, rotting corpse&amp;quot; is ridiculously dramatic.</text></comment>
<story><title>Each Firefox download has a unique identifier</title><url>https://www.ghacks.net/2022/03/17/each-firefox-download-has-a-unique-identifier/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>abandonliberty</author><text>I can&amp;#x27;t believe the apologists commenting on this.&lt;p&gt;Firefox put a lot of effort into tracking download to install behavior. Maybe this is the only violation you know about. There&amp;#x27;s no reason to continue to believe in Mozilla&amp;#x27;s good faith. They&amp;#x27;ve been captured, and are 90% dependent on Google revenue.&lt;p&gt;Discussion here: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28954390&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;news.ycombinator.com&amp;#x2F;item?id=28954390&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Firefox is dead. It&amp;#x27;s time to move past denial. It doesn&amp;#x27;t stand for anything you think it does. I&amp;#x27;m sad, too. Time to bury the putrid, rotting corpse.</text></item><item><author>car_analogy</author><text>Suppose you want to do something anonymously.&lt;p&gt;1. Download installer from Mozilla from your home network - Mozilla now has your home IP and installer ID.&lt;p&gt;2. Transfer it via USB key to a secure, anonymous computer - one not linked to you, on a network not associated with you, such as public WiFi.&lt;p&gt;3. Install Firefox using that installer on said computer. It transmits the installer ID to Mozilla, which matches the one given to your home IP, thereby deanonymizing you.&lt;p&gt;4. Mozilla receives a warrant for this information, or it is hacked, or the organization is infiltrated by a single government or corporate spy.&lt;p&gt;Edit: It gets worse. Suppose a newspaper IT department takes care of providing Firefox and other trusted software installers to their reporters. Now Mozilla can determine who that newspaper helped with IT, such as journalists or sources. Or if you provide trusted software to your friends, Mozilla gets part of your social graph.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rackjack</author><text>What&amp;#x27;re the alternatives to Firefox? The only ones that come to mind are Opera and Brave, and Brave had some controversy too.</text></comment>