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Mozilla adds stupid AI stuff with horrible T&C (lemdro.id)

submitted 9 months ago by astro_ray@lemdro.id to c/firefox@lemmy.ml

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PSA (?): just got this popup in Firefox when i was on an amazon product page. looked into it a bit because it seemed weird and it turns out if you click the big "yes, try it" button, you agree to mandatory binding arbitration with Fakespot and you waive your right to bring a class action lawsuit against them. this is awesome thank you so much mozilla very cool

https://queer.party/@m04/112872517189786676

So, Mozilla adds an AI review features for products you view using Firefox. Other than being very useless, it's T&C are as anti-consumer as it possibly can be. It's like mozilla saying directly "we don't care about your privacy".

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[-] tinfoilhat@lemmy.ml 284 points 9 months ago

I hate the anti-pattern of "Not Now". How about "No"?

[-] laughterlaughter@lemmy.world 16 points 9 months ago

Best I can do is accepting three options: "Yes," "No," and "Remind me later."

"Not now" or "No, I don't want this awesome feature" bullshit infuriates me.

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[-] nia_the_cat@lemmy.world 125 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

~~Hot take and I can guarantee this will be downvoted but I think people are putting way too much blind trust into Mozilla for this.~~ (edit: Apparently not here, pleasantly surprised at that)

They just purchased an advertising company, they made the T&C waive your right to a class action lawsuit. They keep giving their CEO raises and laying off their workers. Mozilla is actively enshittifying but people don't react until it's too late because it's a boiling frog situation.

Whether you think the feature is useful or not, Firefox is unfortunately shifting away from being a privacy-focused user-focused browser. The saving grace is that it is open source and forks can be made of it, "Firefox" itself can survive anything as long as there's enough interest to keep it alive.

I think that Mozilla does great work, but they've lost sight of their goals, and are changing focus. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but this needs to be looked at objectively instead of with brand-loyalty. At the end of the day, they're just another company with financial interests prioritized over user interests.

[-] redditReallySucks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 74 points 9 months ago

Hot take

Thats not a hot take anymore. A lot of people in privacy communities are moving to forks of Firefox that disable Mozilla's bullshit.

[-] Professorozone@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago

Which forks?

[-] nia_the_cat@lemmy.world 37 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

On desktop I've been using Librewolf, Mullvad Browser is good too. There's also some forks on Android, Mull and Fennec, of those I prefer Mull

Edit: Waterfox is another fork on desktop that had some controversy when bought by an advertising company, but they're independent again as of last year

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[-] laughterlaughter@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

What irks me is that they proudly announce that these features are baked in directly in the browser. Why the FUCK would they do that? I want my browser to be a browser only. Everything else must be relegated to an optional add-on.

[-] Vincent@feddit.nl 18 points 9 months ago

they made the T&C waive your right to a class action lawsuit

Fakespot did already have that before they got acquired. Which doesn't mean it's not worth changing, of course.

[-] leopold@lemmy.kde.social 15 points 9 months ago

man why do people always label the most cold-ass takes in the universe as hot takes

[-] nia_the_cat@lemmy.world 21 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Depending where you are it is. On some Mozilla communities you're downvoted into oblivion or dogpiled on for saying this. I was pleasantly surprised here that it wasn't

A lot of them are very fanboy heavy

[-] sozesoze@lemmy.world 14 points 9 months ago

until it’s too late because it’s a boiling frog situation.

That's a common misconception. If frogs are thrown into boiling water they almost die instantly, if they are placed in a pot that's slowly beginning to boil, they desperately try to escape after a while

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[-] friend_of_satan@lemmy.world 102 points 9 months ago

AFAIK this is the result of their acquisition of fakespot.com

https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/02/mozilla-buys-fakespot-identifies-fake-reviews-shopping-tools-firefox/

[-] davel@lemmy.ml 80 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Why not just be a web browser and leave stuff like this to browser extensions?
Oh right, you enshittified yourself.

Edit to add: Why give them money when they apparently already have too much of it from corporate inputs (most of it from Google)? I think they ask us for donations in order to retain their non-profit image, for PR purposes.

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 32 points 9 months ago

You are not wrong. I got curious how much they receive in donations, but could not find anything about it in their financial statements.

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[-] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 74 points 9 months ago

LibreWolf

[-] ZeroHora@lemmy.ml 61 points 9 months ago

Fakespot is from Mozilla, if you trust Mozilla, why don't you trust Fakespot?

And why is it useless? With the amount of fake AI reviews an AI to detect them is not completely useless.

But the popup is annoying.

[-] rtxn@lemmy.world 56 points 9 months ago

People shouldn't trust Mozilla either. It's a company that does company things. Just because it's not as far-gone as Google doesn't mean it's incapable.

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[-] lone_faerie 21 points 9 months ago

Using AI to detect AI is completely useless. It's been a big issue in academics, where a professor will plug your essay into an AI detector and then you get dinged for plagiarism because your entirely handwritten essay gets marked as AI. It's just glorified pattern matching, it has no concept of real or fake.

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[-] LWD@lemm.ee 21 points 9 months ago

I trust Mozilla to do what they promise with my private data

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[-] possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip 46 points 9 months ago

Librewolf.net

[-] 10_0@lemmy.ml 42 points 9 months ago

Click the big X button in the top right corner

[-] andrewth09@lemmy.world 31 points 9 months ago

Average Windows enjoyer

[-] LWD@lemm.ee 42 points 9 months ago

FakeSpot is a hilarious company run by trend chasers, "crypto enthusiasts and web3 believers."

If Mozilla chasing the AI trend isn't bad enough, and their privacy policy doesn't hurt your soul, FakeSpot also only works on the biggest and most predatory platforms (Walmart and Amazon).

[-] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 28 points 9 months ago

FakeSpot also only works on the biggest and most predatory platforms (Walmart and Amazon).

that also happen to be by far the most popular, and also where you are the mos likely to see fake reviews

[-] LWD@lemm.ee 18 points 9 months ago

"If the privacy invasion and corporate trend chasing doesn't hurt your soul"?

Did you miss the privacy invasion where Mozilla now sells private data to advertising companies directly?

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[-] Napain@lemmy.ml 40 points 9 months ago

didn't the Firefox management say they would focus on their core product rather than random little services like this

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[-] Carighan@lemmy.world 29 points 9 months ago

Oh they're finally integrating fake spot? That's awesome, actually! Pretty cool plugin, that!

[-] laughterlaughter@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Sure, Mozilla customer representative #37.

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[-] thegreenguy@sopuli.xyz 29 points 9 months ago

AI shit alone, I never understood the urge to build a whole OS in the browser. I want my browser to view websites. If I want more, then I can install extensions. I'd rather them release this as some sort of "official" extension. Might switch to LibreWolf (do you have any other suggestions?)

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[-] iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 27 points 9 months ago

I've used Firefox since it was released. I will be considering other browsers due to this. I do not want AI in my products.

[-] Mereo@lemmy.ca 25 points 9 months ago

Librewolf and Floorp are good Firefox based alternative browsers.

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[-] MrQuallzin@lemmy.world 27 points 9 months ago

I actually love Fakespot. I've had it installed as an extension for years, but now it's native

[-] laughterlaughter@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

And that's the bullshit part. It shouldn't be native. A browser should be a browser.

[-] tja@sh.itjust.works 27 points 9 months ago

Why do you think it's useless?

[-] astro_ray@lemdro.id 30 points 9 months ago

If someone wanted it, they could've installed the Firefox extension, but now for users who doesn't want this, they have an intrusive feature that is just a bloat. Also, even if I wanted it, it's fairly useless unless you live in western countries.

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[-] 01189998819991197253@infosec.pub 25 points 9 months ago

I actually use fakespot a lot, but will never install an add-on for this.

I got that notice a few months ago, but I didn't use either button on the bottom. I used the X on the top, and haven't seen it since.

I thought we were done with the age of Toolbars, but here we are, back there. An app or add-on for every damn thing. No, I don't want this integrated into my browser. No, I don't need your HTML5 app on my phone to do less than the webpage does. No, I don't want your spyware app to view the one-off Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram link a friend sends me. No, I don't mean 'maybe later', I mean 'no forever'.

[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

but here we are, back there.

The upside is that if you're ever prompted to install a thing to your browser to use a site's features, it's because the built-in sandbox is too restrictive for what they want. It's an immediate red flag.

I also view prompts to "use our (phone) app" the same way. I'm already seeing your site, in my browser, with ten different kinds of adblock and tampermonkey scripts running. I already have what I want, and I'm not letting you anywhere near my data plan.

Clearly, it's time for a "no means no" extension.

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[-] ssm@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The real reason people want to revoke the second amendment is so Mozilla will stop constantly pointing guns at their own feet.

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[-] antihumanitarian@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

Cool it with the universal AI hate. There are many kinds of AI, detecting fake reviews is a totally reasonable and useful case.

[-] teolan@lemmy.world 24 points 9 months ago

I have large doubts on an AIs ability to reliably spot fakes.

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[-] z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 17 points 9 months ago

Please tell me there's an about:config setting to turn this bs off.

[-] Dirk@lemmy.ml 15 points 9 months ago

I got this linked on Mastodon: https://kitsunes.club/notes/9wbyqywt28

[-] z3rOR0ne@lemmy.ml 18 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Nice. Thank you. For those who don't click the link, it appears you can disable by setting these flags:

browser.shopping.experience2023.active

and:

browser.shopping.experience2023.survey.enabled

To false.

EDIT: On finally getting back to my desktop and disabling these, it looks like there's a bunch of these browser.shopping.experience2023 flags. Some of them set to true, others false, I just set them all to false.

[-] Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee 17 points 9 months ago

I know ... But people actually literally want this.

Maybe FF is what we install for normies while we use forks for other flavours.

[-] Dirk@lemmy.ml 18 points 9 months ago

But people actually literally want this.

No-one except advertisers want this.

Most people simply do not care at all.

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[-] Dirk@lemmy.ml 16 points 9 months ago

What are the right settings to disable that crap via user.js? I assume this is done via hidden extension, like Pocket.

[-] ArchRecord@lemm.ee 14 points 9 months ago

I was happy when they used an entirely on-device AI to generate alt text for photos, but this is just ridiculous. They quite literally already have an extension that does the exact same thing this new "feature" offers.

Firefox was supposed to be a less bloated than chrome, but all they've done now is continued to add more and more to the browser that nobody actually asked for.

Give me bug fixes, UX and performance improvements, not entire sidebar popups for review checking that only works on 3 stores on the entire internet.

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this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024

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