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Privacy: Firefox Knows User Account Name
Firefox is a very private browser, and that is why I like it. But recently, when I was pairing my Android Firefox with my Mac Firefox, Firefox asked me whether I want to … (funda kabanzi)
Firefox is a very private browser, and that is why I like it. But recently, when I was pairing my Android Firefox with my Mac Firefox, Firefox asked me whether I want to confirm pairing. This all worked fine, but I noticed that Firefox mentioned the home folder of the account on my mac on which it was installed to identify that Firefox instance running on my Mac. This home folder is the name of my user account, which is my actual name. So Firefox has access to and is in some sense broadcasting my actual name over the internet. I understand that this might be only viewable by me and encrypted, so not even viewable by Firefox itself let alone the public internet (and I hope my understanding is correct and this is indeed the case--correct me if I am wrong), but it was still disconcerting that "metadata" like this is floating around the internet which can easily identify someone even if he goes to great lengths for privacy.