Mozilla Defies Kremlin, Restores Banned Firefox Add-ons in Russia (theregister.com) 18
Mozilla has reinstated certain add-ons for Firefox that earlier this week had been banned in Russia by the Kremlin. From a report: The browser extensions, which are hosted on the Mozilla store, were made unavailable in the Land of Putin on or around June 8 after a request by the Russian government and its internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor. Among those extensions were three pieces of code that were explicitly designed to circumvent state censorship -- including a VPN and Censor Tracker, a multi-purpose add-on that allowed users to see what websites shared user data, and a tool to access Tor websites. The day the ban went into effect, Roskomsvoboda -- the developer of Censor Tracker -- took to the official Mozilla forums and asked why his extension was suddenly banned in Russia with no warning.
based firefox (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:based firefox (Score:5, Informative)
Was that wrong (Score:2)
Should we not have done that?
I was wrong (Score:4, Informative)
Yesterday I commented, "Charitable foundations aren't in the business of civil disobedience."
Good on Mozilla.
Re: (Score:3)
Yesterday I commented, "Charitable foundations aren't in the business of civil disobedience."
Good on Mozilla.
I'm sorry yesterday's statement seems to have been proven wrong, but still you must be a little happy to have been wrong this time. I'm glad you were wrong this time all things considered.
Bonus karma has been tossed into your generally perceived orbit for your having come clean too.
Comment removed (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
So people who like Firefox might have to consider what browser they'd prefer to use after its infrastructure is ravaged.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem was Mozilla wasn't being completely transparent - they just blocked the plugins with no comment. Plugin authors noticed and started asking questions and the thing basically blew up in their face.
They were basically silent, then admitted to doing it without answering "why". Even a comment saying "We had to while we consult our legal options" would've said a lot more. It was true - they were consulting with legal on what their culpability would be.
Even acknowledging how it looks is better than sil
Re: (Score:2)
kudos to Mozilla (Score:2)
Stupid move (Score:2)
Instead of acting like the friend and offering people a product where they can easily sideload what they want, they fight the dictator. That will invariably result in them getting banned from that part of the modern fragmented internet, driving more and more Russians to using a "friendly" product that is even more locked down.
I look forward getting firefox.com redirected to ComradeFox.com, now with 100% more KGB Spyware.
So much for... (Score:2)
So much for the fork I suggested. Mozilla is putin it with their own fork you to Russia...
JoshK.
why? (Score:3)
I acknowledge Mozilla now did the right thing, but I still want to know they did the wrong thing at first and then changed course. Especially for a community project I expect a high level of transparency. This comes from a former community member.
Re: (Score:2)
It is concerning isn't it? That their first reaction was to kowtow even though they have no offices inside of Russia is unhappy.