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Comment by SmellyGeekBoy | Hacker News Reader

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SmellyGeekBoy·

Bundling Pocket, resetting default search provider back to Google on updates. Just a couple off the top of my head.

I'm a long-time Firefox user, FWIW.

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> Bundling Pocket

Why is that a problem? I never got the furore over it. When it appeared, I removed the icon and just went about my business.

Annoying yes, but certainly not "shady". From what I understood / stand it was a mozilla app they included with the browser, not that different to how firefox comes with a bookmarks app.

Originally it was a proprietary program from a for-profit company. That's why people got upset.

The server component is still proprietary and closed source, at least the last time I checked.

It should be mentioned that it also adds articles to your new tab page, which is possible to remove but not easy for most people.

> it also adds articles to your new tab page, which is possible to remove but not easy for most people

It's two clicks.

Yes, if you're familiar enough with Firefox that you know where to click and are comfortable enough to experiment with customizing your browser. I don't think that's the case for most people.

It took me a few months before I realized that the page was customizable at all, especially since the triple-dot menu doesn't even show up until you hover or focus the element.

I use DuckDuckGo as my default search engine and it has never reverted back to Google. Perhaps it only happens on certain major updates??

Have also been using it for about a year on linux stable FF, never had it reset.

Yeah, bundling Pocket is not good, but if you don't use it I guess you're not being tracked? Or is there proof that it sends your info either way?

> resetting default search provider back to Google on updates Never happened to me. Was this a specific update I might have missed?

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