Firefox Plans Smarter, Privacy-First Search Suggestions In Your Address Bar

BrianFagioli shares a report from NERDS.xyz: Mozilla is testing a new Firefox feature that delivers direct results inside the address bar instead of forcing users through a search results page. The company says the feature will use a privacy framework called Oblivious HTTP, encrypting queries so that no single party can see both what you type and who you are. Some results could be sponsored, but Mozilla insists neither it nor advertisers will know user identities. The system is starting in the U.S. and may expand later if performance and privacy benchmarks are met. Further reading: Mozilla to Require Data-Collection Disclosure in All New Firefox Extensions

"Some results could be sponsored"

[RitchCraft]

Yeah, no thanks.

Re:"Some results could be sponsored"

[usedtobestine]

Better yet, they could give us a checkbox to NOT search from the address bar.

Re:"Some results could be sponsored"

[CaptQuark]

There is already a checkbox to enable/disable web searches in the address bar:

Settings => Search => Search Suggestions
    Remove the check from "Show Search Suggestions"

You can also select/disable suggestions from your browsing history, bookmarks, open tabs, shortcuts, etc. right below that.

Re:"Some results could be sponsored"

[Stormwatch]

Go to about:config
Set keyword.enabled to false

Re:

[CaptQuark]

I don't know if that does the same thing or not. When I edit a bookmark I see the option to add a "keyword" that they suggest is to Use a single keyword to open bookmarks directly from the address bar

But, the Search Shortcuts section also says Choose the alternative search engines that appear below the address bar and search bar when you start to enter a keyword

Because I don't use keywords, I'm not sure of the relationship between Search from the address bar and Keywords entered in the address bar. (Mark

Re:

[Errol backfiring]

Better yet, remove the AwFullBar and use an intuitive user interface again.

Re:

[rudy_wayne]

.... some results might be sponsored, but Mozilla says neither it nor advertisers will know who’s seeing them.

Then what is the point? Why would you pay to advertise if you don't know who is seeing your ads? That makes no sense.

You are in the ad business or you aren't. You have to pick one.

Re:

[registrations_suck]

Before the internet came along, you barely had any real idea who would see your ads.

Buy an ad in the city paper. Who sees it? Could be fucking anybody. Maybe the paper could tell you something about subscribers, but that's only a small number of people who read the paper and there is no guarantee they see your ad. Just one example.

Re: "Some results could be sponsored"

[drinkypoo]

You didn't know who saw it, but you don't know that now. I don't look at everything on a web page. I block out as much irrelevant bullshit as possible, some with my brain, some with tools that may not make it clear that I didn't see the ad.

You only know who clicked the ad, and even that you can't be sure about. But you could know before who was responding to your ad if your ad contained an offer, by who came in asking for it.

Wait, I like the list

[marcle]

I rarely use the top link of search results. I want to see a range of results so I can pick the most appropriate or narrow my search. I most certainly do not want my browser to assume it knows what I'm looking for.

Re:

[iYk6]

> I want ... so I can pick ... my search

You you you. Won't anyone think of the advertisers?

5 more steps and Firefox will have 3 buttons: channel up, channel down, and power.

Instead of "forcing" users?

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

I find this tone of writing implies the status quo is torturous. Who wants to be abused? Rhetoric. You'd be a fool to read a plain webpage, when we can jump in front of that slop with this instant, so soooo easy for you to just click what we put in front of you. You're lazy, your gonna click it. Curated results for everything. Convenience has silently replaced choice, and not many people really know. Or care. You now live in the filter bubble, the dream of authoritarians and tech companies.

"no single party

Re:

[registrations_suck]

Huh??

Your post makes zero sense at all.

Re: if you got a table

[drinkypoo]

It doesn't make sense as a reply to this story, but otherwise it makes perfect sense... To anyone who's not a Nazi.

Disable everything

[Slashythenkilly]

Its contradictory to say privacy-first if you also want it to monitor what you are typing. We already have google that will go that for you but this has to be attached to my browing history? We know what Google Incognito Mode got us so no thank you.

Re: Disable everything

[devslash0]

Especially since Mozilla is always squeezed financially and they always try to use you to make money under the guise of privacy.

I've just disabled it.

[alanw]

As per Mozilla's announcement [mozilla.org], I've just set

browser.urlbar.quicksuggest.online.enabled = false

Custom search engines

[devslash0]

What people should really start using more is custom search engines for specific purposes.

In all modern browsers you can create a custom search engine for nearly any website that has a standard GET search form.

So you end up with
g for google
s for slashdot
rd for react docs

and so on. Directly to the source of information. Bypassing Google and Stack Overflow.

https://zapier.com/blog/add-se... [zapier.com]

The Fox is dead, Jim

[xack]

It's down to less than 2% market share on weekends and less than 0.5% on Android, the enpoopification is just going to accelerate the long term decline. Chromium won, soon Google will find the inflection point that the anti trust fines are less than keeping Firefox funded and Firefox will go the way of Internet Explorer. For those who want a "non-Chromium" browser we have Ladybird and Servo now, which is all just a trivial matter since website coders just follow Chromium's standards now. I've been on the I

Re:

[IWantMoreSpamPlease]

but has Netcraft confirmed it yet?

Re: The Fox is dead, Jim

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

Yeah, sad. Depressing to see options slipping away for bad reasons, bad management, bad funding incentives, and obvious power struggles over philosophy and direction .. just humanity on display.

Soo, Ladybird? Is it out of alpha testing? Like seriously, what alternatives are there? So if i can't login to bestbuy with FF, can I assume my browser is likely not compatible with the content served ? And using chrome is the solution ?

Inside the search bar?

[RUs1729]

My search bar is good for a single, long line. The outcome from the vast majority of my searches will be well-nigh unreadable in such a narrow space. Even worse if sponsoring crap is going to be added. Mozilla seems to be hell-bent on destroying Firefox.

Or They Could Remove Them!

[BrendaEM]

Firefox has slid so far down the hill into spyware since it first came out.