@thomholwerda i use firefox on mobile because i need ublock origin >_> so thank you

@thomholwerda FYI, the first setting is under "general.aboutConfig.enable" on Firefox for Android. So search for "aboutConfig" not "about:config".

@thomholwerda I can't even open chrome://geckoview/content/config.xhtml - it just assumes I meant to enter an https:// address and f's it up

@thomholwerda It's ghastly how much telemetry people keep putting in stuff these days, it is beyond a joke now.

Telnet BBS for the win! 😅

@thomholwerda i use it! and i even bullied my dad into also doing that!

also wth facebook?!

@thomholwerda thanks!

@thomholwerda Wow. Even on the supposedly highly privacy-conscious "Firefox Focus" that option was still set to True.

#Firefox #FirefoxFocus

@thomholwerda going to chrome: surprised me

@thomholwerda@exquisite.social bigger wtf is they hid about:config on mobile?? i remember just being able to go to it..

@thomholwerda thank you!

@thomholwerda
Thank you
@veronica

@thomholwerda
Doesn't seems to exist on Fennec-fdroid, hope the maintainer set it to false when they rebase on Firefox.

@thomholwerda thank you so much ive just looked for it in the settings but couldn't find it so figured maybe they didn't implement it on phones. putting this opt out option out of sight is really a shame.

@thomholwerda Thank you for the tip.

(But it is just incredible that we have to go through all that just to disable something that should at least have been an opt-in, or shouldn’t have existed at all. 😬)

Ice raven is amazing on Android

@thomholwerda One of the others thanks you sir!

@thomholwerda

Thankyou! That's not an easy stone to turn.

@thomholwerda
So terribly dissappointed in #Mozilla.
#BrokenTrust

@thomholwerda Thank you!

@thomholwerda@exquisite.social thank you! I've been trying to figure out how to do it and assumed it just hasn't made it to mobile yet.

@thomholwerda

Heh, a lot of us started using only Firefox somewhere along the way. Thank you!

@thomholwerda as another one of the few, thanks

@thomholwerda as one of the other 4.
Thank you!

@thomholwerda thanks!

@thomholwerda OMG thank you so much for this.

@thomholwerda@exquisite.social thanks!!!

@thomholwerda So this is what the Mozilla people mean when they say "it's fine, it's opt-out!" ... o_0

@thomholwerda You also can swing to Mull (or other nice Firefox fork) 😜
@hipolito

@thomholwerda and, just asking to anyone, what about duck duck mobile browser? Does it worth it?

@thomholwerda you can also just jump straight to the private attribution option and turn it off in the chrome:// url

@thomholwerda

Is this relevant if i dont use facebook?

@thomholwerda is brave good these days?

@thomholwerda Done. But pretty shit that `false` is not the default. Really unimpressed, @mozilla

Privacy intrusion by stealth: the moral equivalent of peeking through people's bathroom windows.

@thomholwerda thank you so much

@thomholwerda and in that case there is an option in Advanced for Safari to opt out (if it applied)

@thomholwerda Thanks! do I need to turn the aboutConfig setting back to false after doing this?

@thomholwerda not an issue on Fennec F-Droid! but thanks for sharing, I know of people who will need it…

@thomholwerda
Do we know if this shit is in Firefox Focus?

Edit: Answering myself, it IS on Firefox Focus, the supposedly super-private edition of Firefox, for fuck's sakes... 🤦

@thomholwerda Can you link us to directions on doing it on desktop Firefox?

@thomholwerda Also, I don't understand - Chrome? Why is the direction to enter "chrome" in a browser that isn't Chrome?

@thomholwerda couldn't get the about:config to work. Until I found that it's only available in Firefox Beta, not in the official released version: https://droidwin.com/cannot-access-aboutconfig-in-firefox-android-fixed/

@thomholwerda Or just use Mull.

This is a privacy oriented and deblobbed web browser based on Mozilla technology. It enables many features upstreamed by the Tor Uplift project using preferences from the arkenfox-user.js project. It is recommended to install 'uBlock Origin'.

@thomholwerda thank you. I’m looking for a new browser on iOS, any suggestions?

@thomholwerda thank you!

@thomholwerda I can't open the config file. Bye Firefox.

@thomholwerda this is awful i think, i feel “had”

@thomholwerda holy hell thank you for showing how to enable about:config all on it's own!

I've wanted that for years now.

@thomholwerda Thank you! It worked (was necessary) for Firefox Klar as well.

@thomholwerda interesting. I would've thought that that wasn't active or that it didn't even exist!

Thanks for the tip.

@thomholwerda another possibility: use the Firefox-beta app, which has about:config enabled by default

@thomholwerda@exquisite.social
1. i'm glad that you can use about:config on stable
2. why in the fuck is the method to enable about:config so obscure?

@thomholwerda
Considering that my malware detector notifies me about dangerous links when I visit many news sites without an ad blocker, the solution is simpler. Adblock.

@thomholwerda I've just found that the submission option is also enabled on the desktop.
Damn!

@thomholwerda that is only a temporary solution. The long term solution is:
1. Uninstall Firefox
2. Download & install Mull or Fennec F-Droid
3. ?
4. Profit

i gave this exact same advice to how to deactivate it on the desktop but instead recommending Librewolf

@thomholwerda Thanks! I, sigh, thought it was too good to be true to assume it was just part of the other visible ad related toggle in preferences.

@thomholwerda

Thank you.

I was wondering where they stashed the fiddly settings on mobile. Bookmarking

@thomholwerda Facebook?

@thomholwerda
While this is useful - thank you - it's a bit confusing as words run into each other, making the instructions unclear.

@thomholwerda Thanks for posting this. I don't understand step 3.

I went to the thing of step 1, found the thing of step 2 and clicked "toggle" to change it. In the same search field, I found the thing of step 4 as well, and changed it to false.

Can someone confirm that I did this okay?

(I have no idea what these things are, and I hate that they make it nearly impossible for non-tech people to have privacy.)

@thomholwerda Thanks!

@thomholwerda Wow, what a user-hostile set of hoops to jump through.

@thomholwerda thanks for the tip ! I may be the fifth person to use it !

cc @tut_tuuut

@thomholwerda thank you for this!

@thomholwerda Since Firefox sometimes will not let you paste the chrome:// on Android (wtf), just type that prefix manually.

@thomholwerda Cant find the private-attribution in Firefox 127.0.2 (Build #2016028743) 🧐

@thomholwerda@exquisite.social Thanks mate, I was wondering about this ​:raritywink:​

@thomholwerda thank you

@thomholwerda Firefox mobile strips the chrome:// scheme of the URL when you paste it into the bar, so it ends up being interpreted as a search query. This can be fixed by typing in chrome:// at the beginning of the URL before pressing enter.

@thomholwerda hopefully @fdroidorg 's fennec (firefox with telemetry and proprietary stuff removed) autormatically does this

@thomholwerda ya know what, fuck it, I'll just uninstall it. It's by far the worst mobile browser I've ever used anyway 😂

@thomholwerda Is that already disabled in Iceraven and Mull, right?

@thomholwerda@exquisite.social I just went to about:config 🤷‍♂️

@thomholwerda Thx! Worked like a charm. I haven't had a FB login since 2014 or so. Are they still tracking me?

@thomholwerda done, thanks! These companies are so sneaky these days about grabbing our data.

@thomholwerda do i need to repeat this everytime firefox for android updates?

@thomholwerda I dont use Facebook so there is that.

@thomholwerda
Noteworthy that this /is/ necessary on Firefox Focus/Klar, too

@thomholwerda Hold on, has it been specifically confirmed that this feature is *active* in Firefox mobile? I heard reports that the checkbox was in nightly but not shipping 128 and assumed that meant the feature isn't in shipping 128 either, but maybe I gave Firefox too much credit.

@thomholwerda I believe that going in "developer mode" also activate about:config.
For that go in the settings then "About" and tap the Logo (like 10 times I think).
It enable more advanced settings.

Also, Fennec on F-droid seems to either not have that tracking "feature" or it's not updated yet.
It also seems to have about:config enabled by default

@thomholwerda Done. Thank you very much.

@thomholwerda (Or use Mull)

@thomholwerda Mozilla is making brave browser look better and better every day. I switched to just try it out when I heard Mozilla bought the ad company... I think I might stay with Brave for a bit.

@thomholwerda thanks! The instructions worked for me. Now I hope the it has the intended effect 🫠

@thomholwerda thanks!

@thomholwerda I'm getting a blank about:config page 🤔

@thomholwerda

It works on Firefox Focus! Thanks.

@thomholwerda

Changed it in my Firefox Klar, thanks :)

Fennec (F-droid) doesn't have this field in about:config at all... I assume/hope they just removed that data collection feature completely?

@thomholwerda I don't even know what I just did but if it keeps Facebook out of my shit, I'll trust you, random internet stranger. Thank you.

@thomholwerda
@vicgrinberg Thanks !

@thomholwerda
What the hell is this thing in the first place?

@thomholwerda is this my reason to switch to mull

@thomholwerda disabling firefox' new what

@thomholwerda
Thanks for the walkthrough!

@thomholwerda thank you!

@thomholwerda is there the same issue with Fennec ?

@thomholwerda thanks! Now, to find the other 2 users...

@thomholwerda thanks, the toggle is so obscure it reminds me of HHGTTG where Arthur Dent is told the plans to demolish his house have been "on display in his local planning office" and he says "I went there and found them 'on display' at the bottom of a locked filing cabinet in a disused toilet with a sign on the door saying 'beware of the leopard'!"

@thomholwerda

Yahoo!!! I mean... Fuck you trackers!!! 😂