How can I protect my privacy from Amazon? (Obvious answer: By NOT using Firefox, sadly.)
In response to the internal attempt of Firefox to install the Amazon plug-in:
Firefox has made me very, VERY sad indeed. Amazon? Why doesn't Mozilla just shoot my privacy in the head? It would be a kinder solution. More to the point, sucking up to Amazon is NOT going to fix Mozilla's terrible financial model. Amazon does NOT share any of Mozilla's laudable privacy-related goals, but, to the contrary, "partnering" with the vicious privacy-destroying monsters of Amazon will destroy Mozilla, too. How can ANYONE possibly trust an Amazon partner? Amazon will share a few pennies with Mozilla--but Amazon will laugh when Mozilla goes bankrupt anyway.
In the past, I've suggested an alternative business model of project-oriented charity shares. I'm already getting blue in the face from repeating that solution, but Mozilla is ABSOLUTELY NOT offering a better alternative. Amazon is EVIL, and now I regard Firefox as EVIL, too. My chief regret is that there are no browser alternatives that are significantly less evil--and it always comes back to stupid or greedy (or both) financial models.
Longer version with more on the alternative financial models: https://ello.co/shanen0/post/8-_P6NDy8uo28L2NHxqEIQ
(By the way, we should beware of Oracle's Java, too, since now it will also attempt to install Amazon's spyware into our computers--but we already knew how EVIL Oracle is. Really sad to see Mozilla jumping on the bandwagon of EVIL.)
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Firefox installs plugins from programs it finds already on your system. It does not go outside looking for any.
Also, any plugin, or add-on can be disabled in the Add-ons Manager.
Look in your computers Programs Folder. Is there anything you don't know?
Windows: Start > Control Panel > Uninstall Programs. Mac: Open the "Applications" folder. Linux: Check your user manual.
shanen said
In response to the internal attempt of Firefox to install the Amazon plug-in:
Could you describe this in more detail: what happened, exactly?
Firefox will discover plugins and extensions on your system, beyond what you installed manually from the Add-ons site, by checking some keys in the Windows registry, and by inspecting the files in some shared folders. Could that have triggered it?
I checked and there was nothing labeled as a plugin from Amazon. Based on an article on slashdot, I think it is a new mal-feature of version 44. However, it is also possible that it was somehow triggered by Oracle. Pretty sure that was the same machine where I rejected the request to install the Amazon spyware as a part of their latest upgrade.
So far I haven't seen it on my other machines, but I'm watching for it now, and carefully. I will check every machine to make sure there is no Amazon plugin present, but the wording of the announcement was definitely unclear. As you [jscher2000] intimated, it was suggesting that it was an upgrade to a plugin that already existed, but I deliberately keep my machines as lean as possible.
The notice definitely said "Amazon", and that is a BIG red flag for me. I always notice Amazon, and in the worst way possible.
(Just checked this machine again to be sure, and there is definitely nothing about Amazon in the plugins or extensions. Because of the wording of the Oracle threat, I am also checking the installed programs from the Control Panel. Are there any other places I should search? Hmm... You mentioned the registry, so I better check there, too.)
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Further information can be found in the Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware article.
Run most or all of the listed malware scanners. Each works differently. If one program misses something, another may pick it up.
Right now I want to say it was some kind of false alarm, but I really do hate and fear Amazon...
Whatever it was, it seems to have been limited to that one machine, which also makes me worry. If it was somehow related to Oracle's Java, then it is really hard for me to believe Oracle suddenly developed a sense of morality or decency and decided to back down... Is it possible that it was some kind of a test, and Oracle just chickened out?
Anyway, for now I'm just keeping my eyes open and checking the various machines. Even more than usual.