wips.com block site addon suddenly installed by itself?

[VanillaMozilla]

Well, from their point of view, it is opt-in, and you have to argue on Mozilla's terms. Can you say that the opt-in dialog is deceptive in any way? Or did the function of the extension change substantially after the opt-in?

[malliz]

The last version of this extension updated by the author was 16KB. The current version is 179KB. I kinda doubt it got 11 times bigger just making it compatible for Firefox 23.

The point is the extension was taken over made compatible and then had a whole lot of stuff added in effect hijacked. As an ex tech I can tell you people hardly ever read pop-up EULA's especially for something that is already installed. Mozilla should be ashamed of the way they are handling this because basically they are just saying "Go right ahead screw our users"

[the-edmeister]

I started a thread over at the Addons support forum about this "policy" issue. Please register for that site and post your comments over there.

https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewt ... 20&t=14776

My feelings are that we have another "Conduit" moving into town, and now is the time to let AMO know that we aren't going to stand for this crap.


Ed

[malliz]

Spent the last ten minutes trying to log in to the garbage site even though I have an account. Usual mozilla efficiency. Stuff it feel free to quote my post

[the-edmeister]

Are you aware that every damn Mozilla . com website has separate registration credentials? I use the same username and password for them all, but I had to register for each one separately as each website was being initially setup.



Ed

[malliz]

Yes I have a login for both but still no joy. Frankly the whole site is just a waste of space as I said quote me if you like or link to my post. I have no faith in AMO anyway

[LoudNoise]

My major problem with this is the fact that the goodwill of the old extension is given to the new owners. Even if there are tons of people who are pissed off with the follow-ware it will take a long time for the extension to go from an average of four stars to the deserved single star.

[LoudNoise]

I started a thread over at the Addons support forum about this "policy" issue. Please register for that site and post your comments over there.

https://forums.mozilla.org/addons/viewt ... 20&t=14776

My feelings are that we have another "Conduit" moving into town, and now is the time to let AMO know that we aren't going to stand for this crap.


Ed

Btw Ed, that is likely to get the "don't worry, be happy" treatment there. They will certainly not reopened the bug although is a chance that someone will suddenly have an insight and start a new one.

There is a good reason why we exist.

[malliz]

This just shouldn't have happened the addons should have been blocklisted immediately. But unfortunately dodgy software and toolbar makers seem to take precedence over everyday users as far as AMO is concerned.

[the-edmeister]

Loud Noise,

Please post that information to that thread. I kept the initial posting short and to the point of AMO violating their own published policies. rather than get into a long rambling posting as I am wont to do with topics like this.

My opinion is that "money changed hands" in the transfer of that add-on to wips.com. Edit for clarification purposes - my opinion is that the original developer sold that extension to wips.com, not that AMO was "paid off" to allow that transfer to take place. Not that selling an extension is wrong or not permissible, just the "reason" for that extension changed from being an altruistic "project" to one which is motivated by a financial return or profit potential of using a well received popular extension rather than developing one from scratch.

In light of - https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=903799#c2 - this looks like the start of another Conduit situation. 63 addons with that code already! I wonder how many are abandoned extensions which violated the "opt-in" policies?

IMO, we need to let AMO that we ain't gonna allow this situation to proliferate - AFAIAC, Firefox users "own" the Add-ons website, not the damn commercial interests on the web. They're gonna get their own App Store soon enough, and we shouldn't let Mozilla ruin the Addons website as it now exists with another rendition of Conduit-like crapware. We shouldn't just roll-over and lick our privates; if it is important enough to discuss here, it should be important enough to let AMO know how we feel. Attica! Attica! Attica!


Ed

[LoudNoise]

By the way, I just noticed this. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=903799#c2 Apparently they are doing a conduit here. I would be interested to know if all 63 add-ons found with wip dot com have privacy policies. Someone might want to ask in the won't fix bug.

[malliz]

Probably goes against another "Outdated" policy that was stopping the money flowing in but hey who cares? Certainly AMO doesn't

[VanillaMozilla]

Have they changed the policy, or did someone just decide not to enforce it?

You might have a toehold with Mozilla on the grounds that this is not the same extension that the user installed, assuming you can demonstrate that.

[malliz]

That's outdated, since we don't enforce that policy. (comment 7)

[LoudNoise]

Can we get away from the policy please? Mozilla can interrupt it anyway they want to and you can be assured that it will be interrupted in a way it makes things easier for them. The issue here is the shadiness that this represents and how Mozilla should deal with it.