any idea why i might not be affected? it may help others who might want to retain control of their firefox browser (chromium-based browsers being non-sequiturs).
turns out i had `xpinstall.signatures.required` set to `false`, which i'd done to get an older extension working in the past (and subsequently forgot to set it back to `true` later). so i don't think my install of firefox has been checking addon signatures for a while now, which is why my addons remained functional (with other security implications of course).
i didn't immediately find where the cert was stored (to check it's expiration date) however.
But frankly, "not being affected" isn't good enough for me. Even if I dodged this bullet I might not dodge the next. I'm looking for an alternative browser. Falkon has been interesting so far. It's a little bare-bones in many ways, but at least it's immunue to any future Mozilla screwups.
I personally don't think all this talk of "Bye-bye firefox" is quite fair (I'm referring to a number of comments on this page, not yours specifically). In my opinion (you may disagree), Mozilla is one of our best and strongest allies in the fight for a fair internet. Their values matter because they still have the user base to back them up. If all of us technical-minded folk jump ship to smaller, boutique browsers at every bug and gaffe, leading to a sort of browser balkanization, then Firefox loses its strength and those smaller browsers aren't impactful enough to be able to resist Chrome/Chromium.
But, maybe your choice of browser is purely utilitarian, and that's totally fine of course.
No ability to restrict websites' overrides of keyboard shortcuts as long as Javascript is enabled.
In a similar vein, the scourge of scrolljacking. Every time some web developer thinks that my scrolling down a few notches with my mouse wheel equals "that user wants to scroll precisely one whole page down in slow motion!", my blood pressure spikes.
The Mr. Robot thing. (I came very close to abandoning ship after THAT one.)
The unsettling creepy nature of Pocket, Snippets, and studies.
The stubborn refusal to put easy-to-use media autoplay controls in the normal preferences.
This whole "killing off almost everyone's extensions" debacle.
And now this Normandy thing that's just been publicized, which allows Mozilla to quietly override user preferences. Even if they have the best of intentions in its use, can they be trusted to competently and wisely wield that power?
I just don't trust Mozilla's intentions or competence anymore. So I'm jumping ship. And frankly, I'm starting to develop a real dislike of the web in general. I used to regard Mozilla as the group that provided a great way to access all the cool sites built by talented developers. More and more I'm starting to see Firefox as a necessary evil alternative to Chrome, and the average web developer as a soulless cog in the wheel of the "fuck your privacy, user, we've got advertising we need to ram down your throat and personal data to slurp up en masse!" advertising industry.