Mozilla Firefox Blocks Add-Ons to Circumvent Russia Censorship (theintercept.com)
from possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip to linux@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 17:21
https://lemmy.zip/post/17239625

#linux

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HumanPerson@sh.itjust.works on 12 Jun 17:25 next collapse

Not that this isn’t interesting, but how is it linux related?

holgersson@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 17:56 next collapse

I mean, FF is the default browser and this also might rub some people the wrong way - having the developer of the only relevant free and open, non-google browser bow to a dictatorship

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip on 12 Jun 18:57 collapse

Firefox is a Linux browser in the since that pretty much all of Linux comes with it of you have a desktop.

savvywolf@pawb.social on 12 Jun 17:40 next collapse

It’s either get the addons removed, or get the whole addon store itself blocked. You can just install the extension from an xpi file.

Mozilla really isn’t in a position to fight the Russian government over this and win.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip on 12 Jun 18:56 collapse

Yes they kind of are. I’m not sure how many Firefox users there are in Russia but some how I think there enough that it would be yet another bad look for the authoritarian government.

savvywolf@pawb.social on 12 Jun 20:26 next collapse

I checked, and according to Statcounter it’s at 3.3%. So if Mozilla did go hardball, it’d affect an insignificant amount of people.

Realistically though, I don’t follow world politics much but I assume that “blocking firefox” probably wouldn’t be the worst optics they’ve had in the past few years.

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 23:15 collapse

And they can easily say it’s Mozilla’s fault

khorovodoved@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 21:09 collapse

If Mozilla gets blocked, people would just install some other browser (probably, something from Russia). I do not see how this helps anyone but the government itself. And departure of hundreds (if not thousands) of western companies did nothing to the Russian government, some problems with a browser with almost non-existent userbase would have the same effect. It should be quite clear by now that such tactic simply does not work.

GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 18:53 next collapse

Ok it’s getting properly sus now. Mozilla goes into politics way too much

Telorand@reddthat.com on 12 Jun 18:58 next collapse

Read the article. They didn’t “get into” anything. They got told to take five add-ons down or face the wrath of a regime with a close relationship with defenestration, which they did only for Russians.

GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 19:09 collapse

Doesn’t matter. Politics is politics and always ends badly.

Telorand@reddthat.com on 12 Jun 19:12 collapse

Hence why they were forced to ultimately remove the requested add-ons. Doesn’t make Mozilla somehow bad because they chose not to die on this hill.

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip on 12 Jun 19:00 next collapse

It is a hard issue to solve. However, I think Mozilla should ignore Russia.

ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social on 12 Jun 19:19 collapse

Every major company does this, it just doesn’t make headlines. Plus I’m sure they know you can still install it outside of the store.

GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 19:41 collapse

So you’re defending major companies? Ok. May as well do what Jia Tan did…

ProgrammingSocks@pawb.social on 12 Jun 20:34 collapse

You know as well as I do that Mozilla isn’t exactly a small community project. This isn’t a surprise to me.

GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 20:37 collapse

It isn’t much of a surprise to me either. I heard of them jumping into politics and misusing donations in the past. But it doesn’t mean they’re good

Telorand@reddthat.com on 12 Jun 18:55 next collapse

“Following recent regulatory changes in Russia, we received persistent requests from Roskomnadzor demanding that five add-ons be removed from the Mozilla add-on store,” a Mozilla spokesperson told The Intercept in response to a request for comment. “After careful consideration, we’ve temporarily restricted their availability within Russia."

It sucks, but it’s a battle they weren’t ever going to win. The dictator gets to have final say in how things go in their country.

TheAnonymouseJoker@lemmy.ml on 12 Jun 18:58 collapse

Did you keep that same energy when Biden banned Tiktok from USA?

Telorand@reddthat.com on 12 Jun 19:16 collapse

Yep. Also, don’t let Congress off the hook, because they were a big part of that decision.

makeasnek@lemmy.ml on 13 Jun 03:16 collapse

Here’s a list if you want to find your rep www.cnn.com/2024/03/13/politics/…/index.html

cheezits@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 19:06 next collapse

laughs in Canadian

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip on 12 Jun 20:56 collapse

What is so funny?

PromptVII@lemmy.wtf on 12 Jun 20:49 next collapse

LibreWolf <3

khorovodoved@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 21:11 collapse

Does it have a separate add-on store?

PromptVII@lemmy.wtf on 12 Jun 21:23 next collapse

Nope. It just uses regular firefox add ons.

ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca on 12 Jun 23:14 collapse

Weird to recommend it here then

pastermil@sh.itjust.works on 13 Jun 03:04 collapse

Makes me wonder if a 3rd party server for this is ever a thing.

kenkenken@sh.itjust.works on 12 Jun 20:58 collapse

It’s not the first time. Mozilla was helping to fascism in Russia for years by using Yandex as a default search engine in Russia. Because Yandex was paying them. It’s all for money, obviously. And now they don’t want to lose the market. But the fans of FF will explain how this is “ethical” and helps to save the web.

JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee on 12 Jun 22:03 collapse

It’s not ethical.

Chrome, and Google, however, are worse. Firefox derived browsers are the lesser of two evils, at least they prevent Google having a total monopoly.

kenkenken@sh.itjust.works on 13 Jun 04:36 collapse

Chrome is a commercial product and don’t pretend to be something more, while Firefox gets free marketing from the whole GNU/Linux community, exploiting people’s sense of morals.