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from the random-plugin-included-for-free dept.
Submitted via IRC for SoyCow9228
Mozilla sneaked a browser plugin that promotes Mr. Robot into Firefox—and managed to piss off a bunch of its privacy-conscious users in the process.
The extension, called Looking Glass, is intended to promote an augmented reality game to "further your immersion into the Mr. Robot universe," according to Mozilla. It was automatically added to Firefox users' browsers this week with no explanation except the cryptic message, "MY REALITY IS JUST DIFFERENT THAN YOURS," prompting users to worry on Reddit that they'd been hit with spyware.
"I have no idea what it is or where it came from. I freaked out a bit and uninstalled it immediately," one user wrote on Reddit.
Without an explanation included with the extension, users were left digging around in the code for Looking Glass to find answers. Looking Glass was updated for some users today with a description that explains the connection to Mr. Robot and lets users know that the extension won't activate without explicit opt-in.
Mr. Robot is a TV series about hackers airing on USA Network.
Source: https://gizmodo.com/mozilla-slipped-a-mr-robot-promo-plugin-into-firefox-1821332254
(Score: 1, Informative) by dwilson on Sunday December 17 2017, @05:22PM (8 children)
You also won't see Pale Moon compile and run reliably with >=gcc-5
(Disclaimer: I actually had very good luck with gcc5, absolutely no luck with gcc6. ymmv)
It's been an ongoing problem for years, but the developers haven't given it much of a priority. They prefer people use their supplied binary builds.
I futzed with it off and on for three days, and then shrugged and compiled chromium instead. Life goes on.
Maybe not to that degree. But stupid shit? Oh yes you will. [palemoon.org]
- D
(Score: 5, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 17 2017, @05:30PM (1 child)
>You also won't see Pale Moon compile and run reliably with >=gcc-5
using Pale Moon compiled with gcc 6.3.0 for monthes. zero crashes. what am i doing wrong? (except not buying your lies, of course)
(Score: 1) by dwilson on Tuesday December 19 2017, @12:19AM
Very good! You've countered one instance of personally-experienced-behaviour with another! Well done, clearly I'm lying.
...or software on a modern personal computer is bloody complicated, and doesn't always provide the same result from the same input, due to the literally thousands of variables that can differ from one users computer to another's.
...why am I replying to an AC.
- D
(Score: 3, Informative) by digitalaudiorock on Sunday December 17 2017, @07:48PM (3 children)
That has NOT been my experience for sure. On my Gentoo system (on a rather archaic x86 system actually) I just compiled the most recent stable palemoon (27.6.2) from this overlay [github.com] with gcc 6.4.0. Took a while but went without a hitch and works perfectly.
On that whole thing with the AdNauseam extension, while I tend to agree they shouldn't have blocked it, I think the whole thing was way overblown.
I'll sure take it over all other available options at the moment especially the self-important asshats in charge of firefox now.
(Score: 1) by dwilson on Tuesday December 19 2017, @12:16AM (2 children)
I'm also on a Gentoo system. I upgraded to GCC 6.4.0 from 5.whateveritwas when it was marked stable, and I use(d) the same overlay for Pale Moon.
Compiled fine, but segfaults on startup, roughly 7 times out of 10.
Like I said, your mileage may vary. I'm glad it works for you, and sad it doesn't for me. What more do you want?
- D
(Score: 2) by digitalaudiorock on Tuesday December 19 2017, @08:04PM (1 child)
Point taken. I shouldn't have implied you were somehow wrong. Really does suck that that's happening. As I said for me this is x86. Also note that I've overridden the default behavior of the new 17.0 profile so as to not use pie for gcc 6.4 (which is how it defaulted in the 13.0 profile). I suppose that could be a factor.
(Score: 1) by dwilson on Sunday December 31 2017, @09:01PM
That is probably exactly the reason. I'm on an AMD64 system, and using a hardened profile as well. It's quite possible that GCC's pie stuff changed a bit between 5.4 and 6.4.
If chromium ever irks me enough, I may give that solution a try.
- D
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FatPhil on Sunday December 17 2017, @11:27PM (1 child)
If that's the worst thing you can think of about the browser, you should probably like it more than any other software ever.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 1) by dwilson on Tuesday December 19 2017, @12:21AM
I'm unhappy that the creator enforced what was essentially a political decision on his userbase. Overridable or no, that's not cool.
It also didn't stop me from using the software, as I had never heard of that specific addon, never used it, and probably never will. But as the length of the linked forum thread shows, there were a significant number of people that took issue with the decision.
Related: Why do you assume I think badly of the browser? I love Pale Moon. It's the best Mozilla-derived browser out there, hands down.
- D