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Why doesn't Firefox have a "send data to the Internet" permission for Extensions?

  • Atsakymų nėra
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When I install Extensions, many of them want "access your data on all websites" or some version of it. For a completely unknown extension I am not likely to be comfortable with that, *if the extension can send that data to external endpoints on the web*. But many add-ons don't need that permission. For example, an add-on that just adjusts styles on a webpage doesn't need to contact the Internet at all. (It would still need to check for updates, but I assume Firefox would do that and it wouldn't require granting carte-blanche internet access to the Extention).

I am generally comfortable with an extension contacting the Internet if it doesn't have any of my data (so that nothing privacy-relevant can be sent). I'd also be comfortable with an extension having major access to data if the data can *never* be sent anywhere - it is just on my machine. But Firefox doesn't seem to distinguish between these two extremely different privacy cases.

Is there some plan to implement this, or else some reason why it is not done? Is the technical challenge extreme for some reason?

I (and I suspect many others) could use a lot more extensions comfortably if this kind of privacy protection was available.

When I install Extensions, many of them want "access your data on all websites" or some version of it. For a completely unknown extension I am not likely to be comfortable with that, *if the extension can send that data to external endpoints on the web*. But many add-ons don't need that permission. For example, an add-on that just adjusts styles on a webpage doesn't need to contact the Internet at all. (It would still need to check for updates, but I assume Firefox would do that and it wouldn't require granting carte-blanche internet access to the Extention). I am generally comfortable with an extension contacting the Internet if it doesn't have any of my data (so that nothing privacy-relevant can be sent). I'd also be comfortable with an extension having major access to data if the data can *never* be sent anywhere - it is just on my machine. But Firefox doesn't seem to distinguish between these two extremely different privacy cases. Is there some plan to implement this, or else some reason why it is not done? Is the technical challenge extreme for some reason? I (and I suspect many others) could use a lot more extensions comfortably if this kind of privacy protection was available.