The browser itself is not running; this is caused by the way Firefox registers to listen for system events on Android. Firefox registers a listener for network status changes. Android runs this listener whether the browser is running or not, whenever there is a network status change (including during device boot).

When running, the listener takes up a small amount of RAM. It shouldn't have any impact on your device (Android will automatically stop the listener if the RAM is needed by another app), but we've filed a bug to fix it anyway:

https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=643032

Thank you for your explanation!

However, I still am not comfortable with the idea that there is no way to control firefox to that extent. Opting for Opera, flash support = Win!

Thanks

This is now fixed. The fix will be included in nightly development builds starting tomorrow, and it will be included in Firefox 6 which is scheduled for a final release in about 3 months.

If you'd like to help test out this fix now, you can download a "nightly" build tomorrow from https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mobile/Platforms/Android