[HN Gopher] Firefox Add-On Policy Changes 2021
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       Firefox Add-On Policy Changes 2021
        
       Author : msdrigg
       Score  : 27 points
       Date   : 2021-11-04 19:32 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (blog.mozilla.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (blog.mozilla.org)
        
       | Nicksil wrote:
       | Seems like a net win for the user. Good to see it.
        
       | msdrigg wrote:
       | TLDR:
       | 
       | > We will no longer be accepting the collection of browsing
       | activity data, unless it is part of the add-on's primary function
       | 
       | > Add-ons with the sole purpose of promoting, installing, loading
       | or launching another website, application or add-on are no longer
       | permitted on addons.mozilla.org
       | 
       | > Encryption is now always required when communicating with
       | remote services
        
         | morsch wrote:
         | What's the problem with the second category? That functionality
         | doesn't sound particularly useful to me, but presumably the new
         | rule is meant to disallow a category of specifically malicious
         | add-ons?
        
           | chomp wrote:
           | People are submitting addons that do nothing but just
           | redirect the browser to a web app instead of augmenting
           | Firefox's functionality, essentially just using
           | addons.mozilla.org for their marketing.
        
           | msdrigg wrote:
           | I dont know. I havent used these extensions, but I know of
           | some that only redirect sites. Like redirecting reddit.com to
           | teddit.net or old.reddit.com. It seems like a valid use case
           | to me.
        
       | hyproxia wrote:
       | Finally, a based move from Mozilla.
        
       | peakaboo wrote:
       | Honestly, this means more than color schemes to core users.
        
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       (page generated 2021-11-04 23:02 UTC)