advertisement in packaged software (e.g. Firefox)

[Ralf Corsepius]

On 02/13/2014 07:21 PM, DJ Delorie wrote:
>
>> A party who is molesting me with ads and tries to spy on me, hardly
>> is my friend.
>
> Those are strong words, and based mostly on here-say.  Even the Fedora
> installer "molests you with ads" for various non-default packages.
> Should we ban the installer?  Of course not.

I am referring to app/programs, which are accessing remote sites for 
not-required purposes, such as to present a ads and to propagate local 
data to remote sites for technically not-required purposes.

> There are specific issues that we are going to be worried about here,
> but the key word is "worry", not "act".  Firefox is proposing a
> feature
IMO, tt's technically unnecessary feature, whose primary purpose it is 
to circumvent ad-blockers and allow Mozilla to make money with personal 
data. To me, this is an undertaking directed directly against Mozilla's 
users, which at least leaves an uneasy smell.

> and assuring us that it's safe and respectful.
Well, too many incidents have taught users not to trust anybody on the 
internet. We are reading about breaches of privacy, tracking, espionage 
and ads being abused for malware almost every day.

Incident of today: Shazam on Android is reported to be geo-tracking and 
harvesting contacts + propagating this data to dubious enterprises.

>  Until we have
> proof (or even evidence) that it's otherwise, we should refrain from
> acting prematurely, and instead stick to what our values say we should
> do.
My opinion is contrary to what you say. I feel you are trying to play 
low Mozilla's plans.

Ralf