The Importance of Firefox

Owing to a wine spillage, all Mac-related endeavours are currently on hold. Whilst I’m hoping the damage is largely confined to a small aesthetic stain on the keyboard membrane; I do hope to maximise it’s chances by allowing it a few days to thoroughly dry out. Then ideally, track down some 90% isopropyl alcohol to prevent any future corrosion. The wine was at least light on tannins, but I distrust the level of sugars present.

Prior to the spillage, I was considering which browser to use. I have always been a firefox proponent. Whilst I appreciate Brave and other privacy-focused chromiums, I think it’s important to support one of the only viable competitors to Google’s dominance. Yes, Chromium itself is open-sourced, but the heavy upstream reliance on Google and Google Services means that telemetry remains baked in by default. Tenacious forks may strip it out, but still fundmentally contrinbute to the entrechment of Chromium (and thus Google) as the gatekeeper of web standards. The Mozilla Foundation has been a pillar for the FOSS cause for decades. Adding to their active user-base is but a small contribution to their mission. Should chromium become the mono-engine, we hand sovereignty of web standards to the dominant technical force of surveillance capitalism. A mono-engine with a monopology over web standards and compatabilities, particularly in the hands of Google, would be a grave thing for anyone who supports a free and private browser experience. Whilst yes, Mozilla do make a signficiant revenue from Google adverts; there are no non-niche alternatives and we must not let perfect become the enemy of good.

I do continue to consider privacy implications. Mullvad browser (a Firefox fork) has become increasingly visible, and I have decided to use it for any sensitive browsing. I do, however, like signing in to certain websites (Git, for one!), which does somewhat neuter the benefits. Instead, I have opted for a hardened Firefox profile for day-to-day browsing. This is where I am comfortable straddling the line of convenience & privacy. I considered more hardened Firefox forks like Waterfox or Librewolf, but these do appear to be, ultimately, Firefox with someone else configuring your settings. A worthwhile project for sure, but not something I particularly need, especially given that forks remain downstream for security patches. Privacy & security are fine lines, but I am confident I have maximised my Firefox privacy and minised the telemetry to a level I am happy with. This is the intersection of politics, policy, privacy, & security where i’ve settled. I hope that Firefox continues to grow their userbase, and that even Chrome-users move away from the default browser to privacy-forward forks like Brave in the meantime.

— Frost