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Mozilla Bans Firefox Add-on That Tampered with Security Settings
SOFTPEDIA ^ | Mar 3, 2016 20:03 GMT | Catalin Cimpanu

Posted on 03/04/2016 8:32:54 PM PST by Utilizer

Mozilla developers have taken steps to ban the popular YouTube Unblocker add-on after it was caught altering browser security settings and even installing a second add-on without the user's consent.

YouTube Unblocker is a Firefox add-on that allows users to view YouTube videos blocked in their country. It does so by using a collection of proxy servers to reroute YouTube content through countries in which the videos are whitelisted.

This past weekend, a user complained about the add-on exhibiting sneaky behavior, saying that his Avast antivirus blocked a download coming from a third-party website as soon as he installed the YouTube Unblocker add-on. Rogue add-on was altering Firefox security settings

The user analyzed the add-on's source code and found that the extension was altering the browser's default settings by installing a new user.js configuration file.

This file contained options that disabled Firefox's built-in add-on signing feature. This feature prevents the browser from installing unsigned add-ons that have not been tested (and signed/certificated) by Mozilla. Code signing is recent security feature added to Firefox, which Mozilla deemed necessary to prevent situations like these.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.softpedia.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: firefox; malware; mozilla; security
Another troubling Mozilla Firefox security issue...
1 posted on 03/04/2016 8:32:54 PM PST by Utilizer
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To: Utilizer

Is that the same company that fired its CEO became he made a contribution years earlier to a pro-family group?


2 posted on 03/04/2016 8:35:17 PM PST by Jane Austen (Marco Rubio, the White Obama)
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To: Jane Austen
Is that the same company that fired its CEO became he made a contribution years earlier to a pro-family group?

Pretty close. Brandon Eich stepped down as CEO and resigned from working at Mozilla after it was revealed that he donated funds to a pro California Proposition 8 campaign.

3 posted on 03/04/2016 8:41:46 PM PST by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Jane Austen

Yes.


4 posted on 03/04/2016 8:41:49 PM PST by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Jane Austen
Is that the same company that fired its CEO became he made a contribution years earlier to a pro-family group?

Fired? And thereby commit to taking a specific stance on an issue? You're certainly not familiar with the way things are done in California.

No, he was hounded out, by baying packs of anonymous liberal hounds, towards which the Board "had" to respond, again, anonymously.

That's how it rolls in CA - backstabbing, anonymously, in the dark, in the fog, without announcement or explanation, by a group, without a leader, in silence.

California Liberals: the bottom, of the bottom, of the bottom, of the bottom, of the bottom.

With a smile.

Have A Nice Day!

5 posted on 03/04/2016 9:03:01 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: Talisker

+1


6 posted on 03/04/2016 9:05:02 PM PST by rockrr (Everything is different now...)
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To: Rightwing Conspiratr1; Jane Austen
After being forced out at Mozilla by the lavender flamings, Brandon Eich is now Founder, President and CEO of Brave Softvare. They are working on a new browser called (what else) Brave. It's still very 'raw' but if you want to watch it grow, here's the link: Brave Software - Building a Better Web
7 posted on 03/04/2016 10:37:59 PM PST by NoCmpromiz (John 14:6 is a non-pluralistic comment.)
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To: Utilizer; rdb3; Calvinist_Dark_Lord; JosephW; Only1choice____Freedom; amigatec; ...

8 posted on 03/04/2016 11:00:24 PM PST by ShadowAce (Linux - The Ultimate Windows Service Pack)
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To: musicman

BFLR


9 posted on 03/04/2016 11:04:07 PM PST by musicman (Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
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To: Jane Austen
Yes and now he's working with a new group on the Brave browser. It's still in development.

https://www.brave.com

10 posted on 03/05/2016 3:54:54 AM PST by grimalkin (Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill)
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To: grimalkin

This is why I use Palemoon now. I have also monitored the progress of the new Brave browser. Can’t say I’m too impressed with it, yet, but it’s coming along. Very little in the way of menus, and not the common user can tweak.


11 posted on 03/05/2016 5:42:23 AM PST by ducttape45 (Obama's legacy - Christianity outlawed, America shamed, morality destroyed. Need I say more?)
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To: Utilizer

However, it’s good to know someone’s minding the store. Thanks Mozilla.


12 posted on 03/05/2016 6:33:15 AM PST by Banjoguy
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To: NoCmpromiz

Awesome. I’m going to give that a spin.


13 posted on 03/05/2016 6:38:42 AM PST by Rightwing Conspiratr1
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To: Utilizer; ShadowAce

I have a big problem with watching many u0tube vids.. many tell me that I am in country that won’t accept (not what it says, but closest to what I see).. (I am still in JApan.. pisses me off that I can’t see many things.. :^/


14 posted on 03/05/2016 7:26:47 AM PST by Bikkuri ((...))
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To: NoCmpromiz

Using it on a couple of platforms now.

Not quite ready for primetime yet, but getting there.


15 posted on 03/05/2016 9:23:41 AM PST by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Utilizer

Apparently, not a bunch of campers down at Mozilla.

One of their employees is whinning at Slash dot

http://news.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=8836539&cid=51642315

Here is what he has to say (Full disclosure: I am posting this on Firefox) :

I’ve been working at Mozilla for many years, from peak to decline. I can tell you exactly what’s wrong with it. Nobody will tell you in their right mind though, and I’m tired to not communicating this, so here goes:
Mozilla has quickly been identified by a few as a way to make a quick buck. You see, it does not have share holders, no shares to give out, so execs gets really high salary in exchange with a 40% bonus every quarter that is almost guaranteed (everyone gets it, but 40% of 100k is +40k/y. 40% of 500k is 200k. that’s 700k/year). Easy, when you get 400mi+USD and don’t need much money to operate.
The problem is that they don’t give a rats ass if Mozilla is successful, their metric is not financial (because its +- been assured to come every month through the single revenue stream: search deal), and it’s not market share (because they have nobody to answer to except the employees and they tell us, I quote “market share does not matter much stop looking at it”) (Fucking really Chris? REALLY?).
They also set their salaries, by the way. So basically they do random things they think are cool, with little to no data or idea of what matter or does not matter. Do you know half of them use Chrome as their main browser? How is that not telling?
We keep getting ridiculous thing after ridiculous thing. A lot of people opposed FirefoxOS vs getting back to the roots and attempting to do something about the web. FirefoxOS sounds like a nice concept, but everyone with a bit of a brain knew we had ZERO technical AND market chance.
Then, when it sounded like we’re ok killing that and doing things well again BOOM IoT. Same mistake only even worse!
Oh as for when Brendan Eich got fired, yes, it was also ridiculous. But Psst. Mr Eich got the CEO position and a lot of execs were unhappy about that. He wanted to make Firefox the focus and make it a kick-ass browser. He started by changing everything we were doing. Sounded great! BOOM FIRED.
Mr Eich is now making the Brave web browser (based on Webkit by the way) which is arguably one of the most promising new browsers right now. Go figure.
Did I tell you about the story of our marketing and legal teams that did not want Firefox to ship with tracking protection? It took a long fight to get it in .. private browsing only. What about copying the stuff Chrome does well instead of copying Chrome UI? Like, you know, Sandbox,

Full disclosure: I am pos


16 posted on 03/05/2016 10:04:19 AM PST by centurion316
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To: NoCmpromiz; grimalkin

Thanks


17 posted on 03/05/2016 2:42:56 PM PST by Jane Austen (Marco Rubio, the White Obama)
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