[kwlug-disc] Firefox 106 "View" tab?

[Doug Moen]

Yes, Firefox has added an increasing number of "services" that I don't use, but occupy space in the UI.
The good news is that you can disable the services and remove the unwanted UI elements.
The bad news is that I have to take more time to configure Firefox each time I configure a Linux system from scratch.
It's a minor issue compared to other things happening in the web browser space.

It's still better than Chrome/Chromium, where the only way to remove the features I don't want (esp features that reduce privacy) is to hack the C++ code. But Chromium is at least open source, so there are several degoogled chromium projects that improve privacy. At least we aren't living in the future that Microsoft tried to create, where the only viable web browser was to be closed source Internet Explorer. Mozilla is the reason we aren't living in that reality right now.

However, Google has been quite successful in their project to kill Firefox and take control of the web, and I am very concerned about their end game and the implications of their end game for privacy. Google's business model requires that privacy be eliminated on the web, and that you can't avoid seeing their personalized ads.
 * https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/12/chrome-users-beware-manifest-v3-deceitful-and-threatening
 * https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/03/googles-floc-terrible-idea

The biggest danger is this: if Google can add fundamental new features to the web that destroy privacy and can't be removed from Chromium without rendering it useless for accessing popular web sites that use the new features, then they win and we lose. If they execute on this well enough, then Firefox could become irrelevant.

So in this context, what's the deal with the Google/ Apple/ Microsoft plan to replace passwords on web sites with WebAuthN?  It looks like Google inserts itself as a middleman each time you log in to a web site (when using Android or Chrome). Plus, you have to use a phone to log in to a web site, even if you are using a laptop, and phones are very strongly tied to personal identity. I'd like to understand why this change is important to Google's business model, and what the privacy implications are.

I've noticed that Google has made it increasingly more difficult to use Google services without handing over your cellphone number. From Google's perspective, username password pairs are, in themselves, anonymous, not inherently tied to real world identity. Anonymity is bad for business. So today, for example, it is now impossible to create a gmail account without handing over your cell phone number (whereas that was still possible a few years ago). Cell phone numbers are tightly coupled to personal identity. So now I see that Google wants to get rid of username password pairs, and to force you to use a cell phone to log in to every web site. Hmm.

Doug.

On Wed, Oct 12, 2022, at 2:25 PM, CrankyOldBugger wrote:
> Let's try that again..
> 
> Found the article I was thinking of:
> 
> https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/10/firefox-view-doesnt-feel-like-a-feature-mozilla
> 
> Entitled: "Firefox View Doesn’t Feel Like a Feature, Mozilla. It Feels Like a Nag."
> 
> 
> On Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 2:24 PM CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Found the article I was thinking of:
>> 
>> 
>> On Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 2:21 PM Chris Irwin via kwlug-disc <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org> wrote:
>>> On Wed, Oct 12, 2022 at 11:31:58AM -0400, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
>>> >I upgraded today to Firefox 106 (on Xubuntu), and there is an annoying
>>> >feature.
>>> >
>>> >It is a persistent tab in every browser window, called "Firefox View".
>>> >It is like a pinned tab, but you cannot close it.
>>> >One feature is "Tab Pickup" for switching tabs to other devices, but it
>>> >wants you to sign up for an account.
>>> >I am not interested in that, but can't close that "View".
>>> 
>>> It looks like you just right-click on it and select "Remove from 
>>> Toolbar" if you don't want it on your toolbar.
>>> 
>>> https://www.ghacks.net/2022/09/22/mozilla-is-testing-a-new-feature-called-firefox-view/
>>> 
>>> I just enabled it via about:config on firefox 105, and it appears to be 
>>> removed as mentioned.
>>> 
>>> FWIW, it doesn't work in 105 -- I get the icon to add/remove from the 
>>> toolbar, but the actual Firefox Sync landing page isn't included yet.
>>> 
>>> I'll actually use this, and hope it's included in 106 Release.
>>> 
>>> >I searched on "Firefox 106" and "Firefox View" and found nothing.
>>> 
>>> Had to use quotes, which found the ghacks discussion above:
>>> 
>>> https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%22firefox-view%22
>>> 
>>> 
>>> -- 
>>> Chris Irwin
>>> 
>>> email:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
>>>   xmpp:   chris at chrisirwin.ca
>>>    web: https://chrisirwin.ca
>>> 
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