“Never” - You keep using that word. I’m not sure it means what you think it does.
this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
258 points (100.0% liked)
Technology
38364 readers
353 users here now
A nice place to discuss rumors, happenings, innovations, and challenges in the technology sphere. We also welcome discussions on the intersections of technology and society. If it’s technological news or discussion of technology, it probably belongs here.
Remember the overriding ethos on Beehaw: Be(e) Nice. Each user you encounter here is a person, and should be treated with kindness (even if they’re wrong, or use a Linux distro you don’t like). Personal attacks will not be tolerated.
Subcommunities on Beehaw:
This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
also
Update at 10:20 pm ET: Mozilla has since announced a change to the license language to address user complaints. It now says, "You give Mozilla the rights necessary to operate Firefox. This includes processing your data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice. It also includes a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license for the purpose of doing as you request with the content you input in Firefox. This does not give Mozilla any ownership in that content."
Mozilla may also receive location-related keywords from your search (such as when you search for "Boston") and share this with our partners to provide recommended and sponsored content. Where this occurs, Mozilla cannot associate the keyword search with an individual user once the search suggestion has been served and partners are never able to associate search suggestions with an individual user. You can remove this functionality at any time by turning off Sponsored Suggestions—more information on how to do this is available in the relevant Firefox Support page.
So, turn off Sponsored Suggestions and you're (probably) good to go.
Good they rolled it back. Feels a bit like go for what you want and see how folks react, then have a plan for rolling it back.
You cant go back on never have never will without breaking the law. We need to get these ai tech bros out of these companies if we want them to remain good.
Made the switch to Fennec and IceRaven on Android, and Zen on my Linux desktop, which also has Windows and Mac versions. Sure, they're forks of Firefox, but they are not subject to the same TOS. I used to use LibreWolf on my desktop but ended up having too many issues with it. Lots of crashing and instablility that regular Firefox just didn't have.
Another great tool for unGoogled Android users is FFUpdater. It will handle updating of many open source (not just Firefox-based) browsers. You could also use something like Obtanium for something less browser-specific.
The ToU is in Mozilla's Bedrock repo, but I don't quite know what that repo does. I'm curious if Firefox forks would still be subject to it.
What's the best alternative in* apt now?
What do you mean? Firefox alternatives in Debian/Debian-based repos? Or just an alternative for apt in general (in which case, I think you've replied to the wrong post)?
Yes, I'm asking for the best Firefox alternative thats available on Debian or debian-based distos. Only considering packages in the official Debian apt repos
I know you only want software from the official repos, but it's really simple to add the LibreWolf repo and use that.
Other than that, there's not really much in the way of Firefox forks in the official repos. I believe the Debian builds have their own configurations as well, but I'm not certain. You could use other browsers (Falkon, GNOME Web, etc.), but they're severely lacking in features.
Off-topic, LibreWolf uses the extrepo package to add their repo which is a great third party repo management program for Debian. It's curated by maintainers of official Debian packages and has selection of other third party repos for some popular software that either doesn't make it into the official repos for whatever reason or aren't kept super updated in Debian Stable.
That and it's so much easier than adding signing keys, messing with sources lists, etc. I wish more software used it, honestly, but the maintainers know what they're doing.
There isn't a browser suitable to replace Firefox in the official Debian apt repos.
However, as far as I can tell, Mozilla's recent Terms of Use apply only to the Firefox builds downloaded from Mozilla, not to the built-from-source versions that you get from the Debian archive using apt.
You can use the Debian build under the terms of the Mozilla Public License. Read /usr/share/doc/firefox-esr/copyright for details.
That's good news, but I really want Debian to make an official public statement that confirms this
Have any of you FUD shoveling geniuses considered that this is because Firefox uses encrypted DNS by default?
Some obvious jurisdictions that come to mind, are US vs. EU:
- US: protects "Personally Identifiable Information" (PII)
- EU: protects "Personal Information" (PI)
The color of your hair... is PI in the EU, it isn't PII in the US since it's not enough to pinpoint you as a single person.
Under US law, a data broker can gather a bunch of "not-PII, just PI", and refine it into profiles that can end up pinpointing single individuals.
Under EU law, that's illegal; no selling PI, period.
This is completely accurate, and people don't know how non anonymous it is.
Your hair one for example. Who cares, say you even have brunette hair, something generic. Okay, then let's add on that you're using an iPhone. How narrow is the search now? What state you're in? Who owns a specific model of TV?
I would argue that with only just a few data points you could be identified.
And now they are taking everything you put into your browser and everything you take out. Add some AI pizazz and they'll be able to build a pretty accurate profile about you.
That condition is a despotic red-flag deal-breaker that should be countered with epic abandonment. Let them know this is not OK. If I hadn't uninstalled it years ago, I would have already. Lots of better browsers out there.
view more: next ›