Abrowser settings modified by last update?
I am a translator!
I don't know whether this is related to the last update but:
- I have Google set as default search engine, although I had totally removed it before, and all my additional search engines (like DuckDuckGo html version) are removed.
- In noscript, all the sites that are set as trusted when the extension is first installed, that I previously changed to "default" (i.e., not trusted) are put as trusted again
I saw this by having Google ask me for consent, which was highly unexpected as I don't use Google at all and even block it in my default profile.
The default search engine issue has been reported there:
https://gitlab.trisquel.org/trisquel/trisquel-packages/-/issues/42
I do not know whether my situation is the norm or the exception, but, here, the upgrade to Abrowser 128 has not modified my list of search engines and DuckDuckGo HTML has remained the default.
It seems that somehow respects the default search engines like DDG (pure HTML or not), meanwhile some custom search engine settings can be replaced by the default option like DuckDuckGo or Searx (like happened to me with Parabola Iceweasel a few years ago).
Well, the good thing is if you don't like Google, abrowser 128 is giving you the Bing option. Woohoo! So exciting to have the opportunity to send all my data directly to Google or to Microsoft so they can resell it to their advertising partners (and their spy agency partners).
I am a translator!
On another Trisquel computer, I had the same behaviour of having Google set as default search engine. However, no action on the noscript exceptions list, so it might be that I had forgotten to remove the defaults on the first computer.
Oh, it's much worse! There is a new setting called "Website Advertising Preferences" in Firefox 128, that is enabled by default in abrowser 128. Go to Settings - Privacy & Security, and you'll see it's probably enabled by default. This preference says that it will "Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement". OSNews says that this is based on some Facebook ad software: https://www.osnews.com/story/140247/i-told-you-so-mozilla-working-with-facebook-to-weaken-firefox-privacy-and-anti-tracking-features/
Looks like the preference for this "ad measurement" thingy is "dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled", which we should be setting to false. Here's another article on it - https://chipp.in/security-privacy/how-to-disable-firefoxs-built-in-ad-tracking-feature/
Yeah, v128 had at least 2 anti-features changes, they are already known, the fix is still a WIP.
Stay vigilant, stay suspicious ñ_ñ
Now I get why Iceweasel on Parabola GNU/Linux-libre is still on progress.
I've been following this issue since the last update, and the box (on the attached pictured) being shown as enabled, was a bug, as when telemetry is off, then it should show greyed out, which is been the default for quite some time in Abrowser.
So thankfully it was not an issue in the first place, still like always we need to remain vigilant.
Cheers
Updated my Trisquel mini 11 to see what would happen. It went from Abrowser 126 to 128. My default search engine (Wikipedia) was still there. Bing was not listed at all.
The box for 'Website Advertising Preferences' was UNchecked, so not enabled by default.
Under 'Website Privacy Preferences' the box for "Tell websites not to sell or share my data" is unchecked. Should one check/enable that? Pressing the 'Learn more' link leads to 'Page does not exist: global-privacy-control' on trisquel.info
Just heard about the v128 changes. Understand that the Trisquel team was probably caught off guard and this will be changed in time. It is sad to see that Firefox has finally made this leap.
Someone said it best, Firefox is no longer a user agent but a website agent.
To quote Frank Zappa "They only look after No1. We aint even No 2".
Agreed. Someone should fork Links and create Zapprowser. Text and audio only.
Text and audio are bloat. All you really need are 1's and 0's.
I am a translator!
I am still trying to use netsurf. Unfortunately, on Trisquel forum, the slightly darker grey that is used as background every 2 items appears black, so that the text in it is unreadable.
As posted my personal account on the fediverse:
"Finally there is a workaround that fixes, for now, the search engine recommendations overwritten by the last v128 release.
We have pending to understand the new engine used to set and modify their new search config recommendations tool, we'll get there eventually.
So, when you get an Abrowser update, coming in the next days, you might wanna apply it and recover your trusted search engines.
Regards!"
Ouch, seems like to restore the previous search engines, it's requires to start with a new profile or a brand new .mozilla folder at home u_u
Maybe you'll like to test this in case you don't get the privacy search engines back.
Regards.
Updated Trisquel mini 11 last night, is now Abrowser 129.0.2 (64-bit). Afterwards, was greeted with a window saying something to the effect that Wikipedia was not available anymore/had been removed as my default search engine, that DDG is now set as my default search engine, but that I could choose a different one from the ones listed. Wikipedia isn't listed anymore. Just curious, why was it removed?
Also, just noticed, that in Settings --> Privacy & Security --> Passwords, (now?) there's a line "Suggest Abrowser Relay email masks to protect your email address." The 'Learn more' button beside it leads to
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/relay-integration?as=u&utm_source=inproduct#w_frequently-asked-questions
I'm not good with tech at all, so not sure whether I want to use 'Abrowser Relay'. When/why was this added/included with Abrowser?
[Note: I didn't want to use Firefox on Windows anymore, that's why I'm using Trisquel, which uses Abrowser. So just because something is offered with Firefox, doesn't mean I automatically want to use it, or consider to use it, with Abrowser.]
Oh!!, you can't trust Mozilla will not try to shove their services into its users throat on every single release :-/
We didn't "put it there", if anything we didn't remove it "on time", there is a reason 130 is not out there yet, and it's because there are some other changes pending.
Thanks for the report, you might opt out such service, and it should be disabled by default on the next release.
Abrowser releases might slow down in the coming months, as we have our hands full with Ecne development.
Regards.
Update: Let me use this to opportunity to invite everyone to help us track Abrowser or any other package issues at Trisquel's own GitLab instance
Regards (x2)