Mozilla Firefox is asking for donations.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 12:13 am

Some of you already know that I am an idiot when it comes to computers, IT, and all of that. But I wonder if any of you would be able to tell me something in “easy to understand terms and if I've I've misunderstood the fundamentals please feel free to say so and then further explanations won't be necessary. Here is what's troubling me:

"Hello there: We know you love Firefox, but did you know a non-profit called Mozilla built Firefox? Thanks to donations, Mozilla does a lot more than build this awesome browser. We teach people to code, fight for online privacy, and protect this amazing thing called the Web for future generations. Just a few times a year Mozilla asks for donations, and tens of thousands of people all over the world give. If they didn't, we couldn't do all this good stuff. If everyone reading this chipped in just a few dollars we could wrap this fundraiser up in under an hour. You can make a donation here. Thank you."

The thing is if NSA Ã¡ la Snowden is storing and reading everything we have to say then why not Mozilla Firefox send NSA the bill, instead of asking us for donations?

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 1:25 am

Wikipedia have started doing that lately, except they're doing it in a very 'in your face' way, forcing a page upon you whenever you open a Wikipedia link. I don't mind any free service / freeware including a 'Donate' link button - that's only fair, and I have even been known to make donations to freeware that I've been particularly impressed with, but splash screens are no better than outright 'Any Spare Change' begging.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 1:40 am

FourPart;1470431 wrote: Wikipedia have started doing that lately, except they're doing it in a very 'in your face' way, forcing a page upon you whenever you open a Wikipedia link. I don't mind any free service / freeware including a 'Donate' link button - that's only fair, and I have even been known to make donations to freeware that I've been particularly impressed with, but splash screens are no better than outright 'Any Spare Change' begging.

Yes, that's the paradox. Free service ought to be able to support itself, i.e. advertising. No problem with that. But (again, if I do understand) here we have a service that is a go-between the innocent and the spy. The spy, it seems to me, is the overall winner and ought to pay for the service ¦. not us the innocent. We are at the mercy of both.

gmc · Post by **gmc** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 4:19 am

Were it not for firefox, open office and linux by this point micrisoft would have a de facto monopoly - bear in mind they have set out to achieve just that, try buying a laptop without windows on it to see how hard it is, OK the operating system is "free" but who falls for that one. Microsoft have been fined in the US, europe and the far east for anti-competitive practices usually far too late to save the competition.

Internet explorer and microsift office are only as good as they are because of the competition, firefox started from the ashes of netscape remember them? It's no thanks to microsoft web access is so freely available and if they could they would stitch it up. Governments can't control it the way they would like hopefully they will never be able to. Mozilla is supported by a lot of people who give of their time and expertise freely if you don't want to give of your cash then don't pay microsoft instead.

I have to buy a replacement computer sadly there are a couple of applications I use that only work on windows not becauser they couoldn;t woork on linux but miccrosoft penalise manufactirers that don't co-operate with them.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 6:19 am

Thanks Mac. I understand much better now. I was a bit upset after purchasing my new computer (with windows 8) to realize that my MS Word program was no longer useful, but after being given some advice I installed OpenOffice ¦.. I am learning!

The other aspect of my question is what seems to be the inevitable NSA hacking and an incapability to stop them. So if I turn my question round I might phrase it another way: 1. Is NSA paying any of the hacked services (Google, Yahoo, etc.) for the intrusion? 2. If not, why not? 3. If so, ought not they be satisfied with it and drop requests for donations and/or adverts? And (4) if NSA is a quasi-illegal, anti-Democratic organ anyway, why should they respect the legal foundation that MicroSoft stands upon, especially if they cannot be controlled as the government would like for them to be? Did that last sentence make sense?

I suppose at the end of the day the only battle we can take part in is the one of cost? Assist the little guy against MS and we enjoy lower costs. But we are still (and always) getting stuffed by NSA in that we are paying/donating for something that by way of Big Brother is cheating us. “It's a nice computer I have here, pity if something bad should happen to it. That's what it feels like.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 7:23 am

As a preamble let me say I have 2 Ebay accounts,many times I just browse it without logging in with either, it doesn't stop the emails arriving next day asking me if I'm still interested in whatever I looked at. If you use Google, apparently it gives you returns suitable to your previous searches based on your location and earlier searches, I don't understand it but it concerns me.

I use Firefox all the time, and an Open Source operating system

Considering Bill Gates is one of the richest men alive there is lots of money in commercial operating systems, I have left Microsoft and gone freestyle with a variation of Ubuntu.Depending how clever you are there are ways to protect yourself on line, such as the tor browser, I understand using Open source OS's is more secure than MS, simply because they are less widely used.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 9:50 am

Bruv;1470444 wrote: As a preamble let me say I have 2 Ebay accounts,many times I just browse it without logging in with either, it doesn't stop the emails arriving next day asking me if I'm still interested in whatever I looked at. If you use Google, apparently it gives you returns suitable to your previous searches based on your location and earlier searches, I don't understand it but it concerns me.

I use Firefox all the time, and an Open Source operating system

Considering Bill Gates is one of the richest men alive there is lots of money in commercial operating systems, I have left Microsoft and gone freestyle with a variation of Ubuntu.Depending how clever you are there are ways to protect yourself on line, such as the tor browser, I understand using Open source OS's is more secure than MS, simply because they are less widely used.

Yes, It does. I get them all of the time. Products - Hotels - Airlines. As you say, they start popping up after I've been on Google. We're planning a trip to Gdansk soon and the adverts are coming , fast and furious.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:10 am

High Threshold;1470454 wrote: Yes, It does. I get them all of the time. Products - Hotels - Airlines. As you say, they start popping up after I've been on Google. We're planning a trip to Gdansk soon and the adverts are coming , fast and furious.
Don't you use Adblock ?

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:50 am

Bruv;1470456 wrote: Don't you use Adblock ?

No, I don't. As long as they stick to the margin I don't consider them too much of a nuisance. But that's good advice for future use, thanks.

Post by **LarsMac** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 6:59 pm

I tend to support such ventures with donations.

Adblock is my friend. I forget how nice it is until I am on someone's computer that does not have it.

I also happily donate to Wikipedia every year, and just sent in a donation to Mozilla.

I have always been a believer in public software development, Freeware and Shareware.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 10:07 pm

LarsMac;1470492 wrote: I tend to support such ventures with donations.

Adblock is my friend. I forget how nice it is until I am on someone's computer that does not have it.

I also happily donate to Wikipedia every year, and just sent in a donation to Mozilla.

I have always been a believer in public software development, Freeware and Shareware.

You've just changed my outlook. Seriously. I am going to Adlock immediately. How can I be sure I will be downloading from a "known author"?

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:01 pm

High Threshold;1470496 wrote: You've just changed my outlook. Seriously. I am going to Adlock immediately. How can I be sure I will be downloading from a "known author"?
Download it from their own website:

https://adblockplus.org/

I believe there is a plugin version for Internet Explorer, but it's not as comprehensive.

I use Adblock all the time. However, on some sites, such as this one, although it removes the ads, it doesn't remove the iframes that contain them. As a result posts tend to appear narrowed - sometimes to as little as 1 character per line (depending on you Font Size Display Settings. I have mine on 125% because to the screen being such high definition, if I don't then the text is so small it becomes unreadable). The strange thing is, though, psychologically, when you view it with the ads there (such as I frequently do at the office - I could install Adblock there, but I don't think they'd like me doing that) you don't notice it so much Mind you, it does seem a bit weird when you see "Make These Ads Go Away" at the top when there are no ads.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Tue Dec 30, 2014 11:33 pm

FourPart;1470497 wrote: Download it from their own website:

https://adblockplus.org/

I believe there is a plugin version for Internet Explorer, but it's not as comprehensive.

I use Adblock all the time. However, on some sites, such as this one, although it removes the ads, it doesn't remove the iframes that contain them. As a result posts tend to appear narrowed - sometimes to as little as 1 character per line (depending on you Font Size Display Settings. I have mine on 125% because to the screen being such high definition, if I don't then the text is so small it becomes unreadable). The strange thing is, though, psychologically, when you view it with the ads there (such as I frequently do at the office - I could install Adblock there, but I don't think they'd like me doing that) you don't notice it so much Mind you, it does seem a bit weird when you see "Make These Ads Go Away" at the top when there are no ads.

Hmmm. Not being sure what is a “known author do you think I would be safe just giving it a go and relying on my Malwarebytes to see me through?

Is it so that the “empty iframes are just as large as they would be if they were “occupied? I guess then that it is a toss up whether or not Adblock is worth having, unless the empty frames are more the exception than the rule?

Anyway, I am going to try your link. Ta!

EDIT: I've done it. (I think)

Post by **LarsMac** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 7:27 am

High Threshold;1470500 wrote: Hmmm. Not being sure what is a “known author do you think I would be safe just giving it a go and relying on my Malwarebytes to see me through?

Is it so that the “empty iframes are just as large as they would be if they were “occupied? I guess then that it is a toss up whether or not Adblock is worth having, unless the empty frames are more the exception than the rule?

Anyway, I am going to try your link. Ta!

EDIT: I've done it. (I think)

There are many places you can download the software, but if you get it from some outlaw site, they are usually compromised, and you will find a number of other software packages are attached to the download.

As fourpart said, go directly to the author's own site, and download from there.

This is the same for any software you want to download.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 8:47 am

LarsMac;1470504 wrote: There are many places you can download the software, but if you get it from some outlaw site, they are usually compromised, and you will find a number of other software packages are attached to the download.

As fourpart said, go directly to the author's own site, and download from there.

This is the same for any software you want to download.

To us computer idiots that's not nearly as easy as it sounds. We're easily fooled by the "DOWNLOAD NOW" buttons. :yh_cow Anyway, I did click on one of those and as far as I know I now have the Adlock feature installed on my computer.

Bruv · Post by **Bruv** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 11:28 am

High Threshold;1470508 wrote: To us computer idiots that's not nearly as easy as it sounds. We're easily fooled by the "DOWNLOAD NOW" buttons. :yh_cow Anyway, I did click on one of those and as far as I know I now have the Adlock feature installed on my computer.

It is 'Normally' installed as part of your browser, nestling somewhere amongst the other magic, you can enable or disable it at sites as you wish.

Some sites ask you to disable it because they make revenue from ads to continue supplying services or software for no up front charge.

If you use Firefox you can install it from within the browser itself, not sure of Internet Explorer.

FourPart · Post by **FourPart** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 11:39 am

If it's installed you should have a "Stop" sign icon showing on your taskbar, top right. And, of course, the big test, after rebooting are you still seeing ads on here?

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Wed Dec 31, 2014 11:59 am

FourPart;1470537 wrote: If it's installed you should have a "Stop" sign icon showing on your taskbar, top right. And, of course, the big test, after rebooting are you still seeing ads on here?

Well I'll be damned! I just recently noticed that (not having recalled seeing it before) and I honestly thought it did say "Stop"!

FG-administator · Post by **FG-administator** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 7:28 am

High Threshold;1470428 wrote: The thing is if NSA á la Snowden is storing and reading everything we have to say then why not Mozilla Firefox send NSA the bill, instead of asking us for donations?

I'm not sure why you pick on Firefox in particular.

The NSA is one group in a five-nation cooperative sharing venture designed to circumvent national legislation. If it's illegal for country A to monitor or store communications of its nationals then country B will do it for them, and vice versa. It's not just web traffic. International mail gets opened, telegrams and phone calls are intercepted and monitored - the British have been doing that since the 1940s on Cyprus since it's ideally located to cover Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Are we to get the NSA to fund mail services? Telecommunications? If not, why pick on Firefox. These intelligence communities are just parasites leeching off essential public services which would exist whether they were being ransacked by the English-speaking world or not.

As for not liking the begging for money from free web agencies like Firefox or Wikipedia your answer is staring you in the face - don't use ever them, and they'll have no contact with you. Why use Firefox if the requests annoy you - there are plenty of equally useable alternatives, some of which you can even pay for up front.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 9:53 am

FG;1470568 wrote: I'm not sure why you pick on Firefox in particular.

The NSA is one group in a five-nation cooperative sharing venture designed to circumvent national legislation. If it's illegal for country A to monitor or store communications of its nationals then country B will do it for them, and vice versa. It's not just web traffic. International mail gets opened, telegrams and phone calls are intercepted and monitored - the British have been doing that since the 1940s on Cyprus since it's ideally located to cover Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Are we to get the NSA to fund mail services? Telecommunications? If not, why pick on Firefox. These intelligence communities are just parasites leeching off essential public services which would exist whether they were being ransacked by the English-speaking world or not.

I can see that you have grossly misundersttood me.

Advertising is a parasite I would rather do without, but the modern, capitalistic world revolves that way and it is (in this case) a fair deal. Advertisers are shoving their products in my face but they are responsible for paying a tariff that makes it possible for me to have free services. In addition, their method is above board and I have the choice to ignore them or purchase their wares. 1:1.

NSA however is a clandestine operation that deprives me of my human rights and has the capability of destroying my life, all without as much as a “by your leave. 1:0.

I am not picking on Firefox in particular. It is simply that it is Firefox that is asking for a donation from me. Advertising is paying my way for the privilege of capturing my attention. NSA ought to do the same. In other words with Advertising and NSA I honestly do not see why I should pay anything at all – flat fees or donations. I cannot see how you can assume that I am picking on Firefox just because I feel that it is NSA that should cover the fee(s).

FG;1470568 wrote: As for not liking the begging for money from free web agencies like Firefox or Wikipedia your answer is staring you in the face - don't use ever them, and they'll have no contact with you. Why use Firefox if the requests annoy you - there are plenty of equally useable alternatives, some of which you can even pay for up front.

Are you not feeling well today? Such strong sentiments never left the tip of my pen.

Anyway, thank for the condensed lesson on the workings of NSA! I have much to learn.

FG-administator · Post by **FG-administator** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 3:13 pm

High Threshold;1470571 wrote: I cannot see how you can assume that I am picking on Firefox just because I feel that it is NSA that should cover the fee(s).

Because your opening post was entirely focused on Firefox to the exclusion of all other web browsers? It seems a fair assumption from a spectator's point of view.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 5:11 pm

FG;1470573 wrote: Because your opening post was entirely focused on Firefox to the exclusion of all other web browsers? It seems a fair assumption from a spectator's point of view.

Sorry, but I do not agree. Firefox is my web browser. You are reading far too deeply into my original post. But I forgive you.

FG-administator · Post by **FG-administator** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 5:54 pm

High Threshold;1470580 wrote: Sorry, but I do not agree.
That, of course, is your prerogative. I merely note that my answer was entirely factual and relevant.

High Threshold · Post by **High Threshold** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 6:13 pm

FG;1470585 wrote: That, of course, is your prerogative. I merely note that my answer was entirely factual and relevant.

Prerogative? My, my. The shape of a pear.