Favicon inserter is still alive and you can find it here: http://sonco.synthasite.com/favicon-inserter.php. After installation - go to plugin manager and delete old Favicon inserter. New version you will find as "Site Favicon in URL bar". I think it's better than Favicon restorer and don't know why author removed it from Mozilla site.

You can restore old empty icon this way (add this in userChrome.css):

@namespace url("http://www.mozilla.org/keymaster/gatekeeper/there.is.only.xul"); /* only needed once */

#navigator-toolbox #fav-image[blank]{list-style-image: url("chrome://global/skin/icons/folder-item.png")!important;
  -moz-image-region: rect(0px, 16px, 16px, 0px) !important;}

Works great :-)

I agree with eiwstar- bring back the favicon. There must be a better way to deal with the security concerns. It's a useful tool for branding & user navigation. I invested time creating favicons for clients only to see them replaced by ugly locks & globes. The awesome bar grows less awesome with each 'improvement'.

How about a majority of users? It would be easy enough to have both security and aesthetics; simply show an unlocked padlock immediately beside the favicon location when a site is not secure so that anyone 'spoofing' a show of security would be debunked. If anything, it is the padlock which is misleading since it gives an illusion of safety when in fact you could simply be 'securely' connected to a dangerous site. In short, security indications could easily be shown separate from, but in proximity to (because they give site information) favicons and, IMHO, should be.

"How about a majority of users?"

Probably won't make any difference, when it comes to a security improvement or fix, Mozilla isn't a democracy.

Very few (if any) software producers are democracies, Ed, and it isn't necessary for them to be. Fortunately, FF do listen to the users of their graciously provided, and excellent, product - which is why we now have the superb multi-search-engine box back. Why not separate the secure socket indication from the favicon? They have entirely different functions. In any case, 99 times out of a 100 it is what you are connected to that is the problem, not how you connect to it.

Someone made a comparison of the URL bar of Firefox with Chrome, Opera, and Safari. I wonder why not IE?

https://bug747630.bugzilla.mozilla.org/attachment.cgi?id=644676

Of the four, Safari has the favicon next to the URL, while the other 3 use "generic" icons.

Another link to "Favicon in URLBar," this on the Firefox Add-on install page:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/site-favicon-in-urlbar/

There's also a list of customisable options available prior to installing it.

I've been using it for a while and it seems to work almost perfectely. For some reason there are a few sites whose favicons still don't show. Love it!