I’m pretty sure Firefox is one of the most hated web browsers.
Mozilla and Firefox used to stand up for internet freedom, but in the last couple days they came out asking outright for more censorship.
Luckily, for us there are alternatives.
I recommend using the Brave browser as the best Firefox alternative. It’s built on the same engine as Chrome, which means it’s much faster than Firefox. It doesn’t call back to Google and have all the features one would need from a modern browser.
Importing history, bookmarks and passwords takes just one click so there is no reason to postpone the move.
First of all, it is not a good one for security. With the release of Firefox, Mozilla decided to start using its proprietary extension system for extensions that had not been tested in Firefox’s official Extension Manager. After all, how can one expect the extension system to keep track of other extensions?
This is a stupid, stupid decision. I am disappointed, disheartened and frustrated by this move.
Before I go into why, I have to say that, on its own, the extension system is not a bad thing. But it is an implementation detail. What makes an implementation detail a bad thing is when the features of the system are used to introduce even more bugs.
Well, Firefox’s extension system did exactly that. From now on, if you check if an extension is from the official list, and if it is, it will work.
Oh, and one more thing. If you’re looking for some security features, then you should probably avoid Firefox altogether.
Why is Firefox Not a Good Browser for Security?
If you’re looking for some good security features in Firefox, then you are going to be disappointed.
First of all, Firefox doesn’t support extensions from any trusted vendors. If an extension has not been approved by Mozilla, then it will break the security feature you’re using in Firefox. One example of this is the notification extension I’m using in this article: it doesn’t work with Firefox’s Do Not Track. You can’t configure Firefox to tell websites to stop tracking you on the fly.
Another example is the security extension of Firefox’s “Firefox Do-Not-Track” extension. The reason why it doesn’t work is because it doesn’t provide a secure connection.
As you can see, this is not good. Firefox will eventually get extensions approved, and eventually, if the extensions are trustworthy, you will be able to use them without issues.
Of course, it is possible that the users of Mozilla will be able to implement this protocol by themselves (this is why the extension API was developed in the first place). But the users won’t be allowed to change the features of the extension. This is like someone saying, “I’m not going to give you the means to change the desktop icons on your desktop”.
Here’s an example of what could happen: a feature is removed from the extension system, and the user will not be able to make the necessary changes.
Oh, and the same problem can be seen with HTTPS security: one extension doesn’t provide HTTPS security, and all other extensions won’t work properly. As you can see, people won’t be able to fix their own security issues.
So what about privacy? Well, privacy issues in Firefox are completely made up. Mozilla wants you to believe that you can opt out of sharing data by hiding the little info they show about you. But I can assure you that that isn’t true. This is just a distraction.
This is why I don’t recommend using Firefox for security.