Preventing Firefox telemetry data collection

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Today’s computer users can fight a never ending privacy battle against a lot of programs we have installed on our computers, or not. Personally I question any changes a program makes on my machine under the guise “update”, be it called the “Latest Version” or just a plain old bug fix.

To the experts that already know all the ends and outs of Firefox’s tips and tricks read no further
Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) a Microsoft MVP, wrote an article on disabling Firefox’s collection of data via telemetry that is turned on by default. I have no qualms sharing data (such as crash) to a programs provider, I prefer to know beforehand what and how they are collecting. I lose faith instantly when I find something done without my knowledge. Link to his “how to” article is here:

https://www.askvg.com/tip-disable-telemetry-and-data-collection-in-mozilla-firefox-quantum/

I followed his suggestions two days ago, Firefox updated me to Version 63.0 last night, the changes I made stayed intact. Of course I wish he would do the same for Windows10 Home editions!

Before someone suggests it, I am trying Waterfox, the telemetry is off by default in that browser and it doesn’t exclude some extensions as Firefox does.

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Lori, walker, plodr, geekdom, HiFlyer

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? says:

thank you for the link to Vishal’s askvg, Bluetrix. have had good info from his site over the years. check out AKB3000003  here for additional info:

https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/3000003-firefox-additional-security-telemetry-and-privacy-tweaks/

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Thanks for that link. It does contain more than what I wrote about. I kept my post specific to what I have already done on my machine, relative only to telemetry and this information is current. That post was written in Feb 2017, things change.

I seem to have a problem with the search engine on this site. I am either typing in the wrong words or doing something else incorrect, either way if I type in (without the quotes):

“Block Windows Updates”, I am presented with posts that have nothing at all to do with my search. I am still learning what to enter in the search window.

I did look for blocking Firefox telemetry, nothing like your link appeared.

I chalk it up to being new here, I’m sure this will not be the last time someone points to a link about something I post as having been posted before.

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HiFlyer

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Bluetrix wrote:

I am still learning what to enter in the search window.

Sometimes you get better results from using a search engine, i.e. try this from DuckDuckGo

1 user thanked author for this post.

Bluetrix

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Using single keywords may help, although sometime may be lost sift through the results.

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Bluetrix wrote:

Before someone suggests it, I am trying Waterfox, the telemetry is off by default in that browser and it doesn’t exclude some extensions as Firefox does.

The telemetry isn’t just off in Waterfox… the code is removed.

It’s the only really good browser left in existence, I think.  Firefox is a lost cause, I think, which is just a sad state of affairs for one who has so long been a FF fan as I have.  Vivaldi isn’t there yet, though it seems to be on a good path.  Pale Moon is also decent, but without e10s, it still has the “jank” that Firefox was working to eliminate with e10s in the first place.  Waterfox (with Classic Theme Restorer installed) is everything I wish Firefox was, and what it would be if Mozilla hadn’t decided that copying Chrome was to be their main goal.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
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HiFlyer, Bluetrix

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I read your posts Ascaris, that is where I learned about Waterfox in the first place. Thank you for that!

Not arguing with you, but my version of Waterfox   56.2.3 (64bit) from WF’s home site does in fact have telemetry. It is marked “false” in about:config for all the telemetry options. That is the only reason I said it’s turned off by default  (besides I forget where I read about it  being turned off).  I took a screen shot and cropped it in Paint. Hope this works.

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The option is there, but it doesn’t do anything.  MrAlex94 removes the telemetry code.  The pref is just a relic from Firefox that has no function now.

Edit: Take a look at the “about Waterfox” page.  Specifically, this text:

More privacy

Waterfox doesn’t sell access to your personal information like other companies. In fact – we don’t even collect any. From privacy tools to tracking protection, you’re in charge of who sees what.

On the Waterfox features page:

No data collection

We have no need for your data, so you can browse freely.

It used to be spelled out more concretely than this.

Before the recent (several) redesigns of the Waterfox page, the site used to contain a detailed list of the differences between Waterfox and Firefox.  One of them was that the telemetry code was removed.  Now that Waterfox’s purpose has grown beyond the niche it used to occupy, I guess there was a perception that a less geeky, more mainstream kind of web site was needed, and that’s what we got.

The above citations hint at the removal of the Firefox telemetry, but they don’t come right out and say it.  I suppose this is because Waterfox is being portrayed as more of a new browser in its own right rather than “just” a modified version of Firefox.  Any statements to the effect that “we removed the Firefox telemetry” would push it back toward being a modified Firefox.  Stating the same thing without referencing Firefox would look just like the citations above.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Bluetrix, Microfix

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With toolkit.telemetry.infoURL being blank (no url address), where is the telemetry being directed to..nowhere, even if it was active.

@Ascaris is bang on the money

Windows - commercial by definition and now function...

2 users thanked author for this post.

Bluetrix, Ascaris

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Kirsty wrote:

Bluetrix wrote:

I am still learning what to enter in the search window.

Sometimes you get better results from using a search engine, i.e. try this from DuckDuckGo

Am I reading you correctly … I can have better results finding something on Askwoody by using a search engine other than the one provided here?

I am almost speechless if that is true.

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Sometimes… search engines tend to understand boolean commands better than the plug-in here does

I’m all for trying whatever gives results!

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SueW, woody, Ascaris, Bluetrix, HiFlyer

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I use DuckDuckGo or Google Search to find items on this site all the time.

The built-in search works OK for typical queries. But Google’s the master at all of this.

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Morty, Kirsty, Bluetrix

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anonymous wrote:

? says: thank you for the link to Vishal’s askvg, Bluetrix. have had good info from his site over the years. check out AKB3000003 here for additional info: https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/3000003-firefox-additional-security-telemetry-and-privacy-tweaks/

I’ve got to ask … how did you find that post?  I am looking for how to find relevant posts on any subject I may decide to post about. Any suggestions are welcome, apparently you have the “touch”

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Microfix wrote:

With toolkit.telemetry.infoURL being blank (no url address), where is the telemetry being directed to..nowhere, even if it was active. @ascaris is bang on the money

I said in my reply to Ascaris, I was not arguing with him. I just presented the facts as I saw them in my version of the “about:config” in Waterfox.

I admit I am at the bottom or near the bottom of the food chain here, without verification or confirmation to the contrary of facts as I see them (not forgetting they do look like facts to me) by people such as you and Ascaris, I can only believe what I see, whether I totally understand what I see or not. Thank you both for the clarification, things aren’t always what they seem.  ( pay no attention to the man behind the curtain)

Ascaris pointed out that what I was looking at were remnants or ghosts of what used to be. Like others do, I look for people who  know what they are talking about. If I can venture a guess, a lot of readers here do also. It is the main reason I am here.

I wish I could remember where I read the idea that the telemetry was turned off by default, makes no difference now, it was many web pages ago. I have been “updated.”

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Microfix

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You don’t have to worry about your place in the food chain.  We’re all about getting to the truth here, if I may speak for the others.  I’ve actually been happy to be shown to be wrong sometimes– it means there is an opportunity to learn something.  I’m glad that you raised the point rather than just let it go when it was on your mind.  Odds are that if you are thinking something, someone else will think the same, and having a discussion about it now can benefit people who haven’t even joined the site as well as those who have.

As for the telemetry… consider that Waterfox is, as far as I know, run by one individual, and he has no means to analyze large quantities telemetry data, nor does he have any use for the kinds of telemetry Firefox collects if enabled.

As hated as the term ‘telemetry’ has become, I don’t think that Firefox was ever involved in the invasive telemetry that we see from the likes of Google.  It appears to really have been about making Firefox better, which is kind of ironic, considering that Firefox just keeps going in the wrong direction, IMO, starting with Firefox’s copying of Google’s release schedule and versioning scheme, continuing through Australis, and reaching a new high (low?) with Quantum.

It was telemetry data, after all, that led Mozilla to believe that most of us don’t use “legacy” addons anyway, and that the average user only uses 1-2 addons at most.  They claimed this as justification to do what they did with Quantum.

It’s been postulated that the telemetry data they have is skewed.  The users who are more likely to use the powerful legacy addons whose function cannot be duplicated in the new WebExtensions are also the ones most likely to know where the telemetry OFF switch is, and to care about using it.  If Mozilla fails to account for this effect in their analysis of telemetry data, they do so foolishly.

None of this kind of data is of interest to the Waterfox project, which isn’t looking to develop (or delete) any features.   A modern browser is tremendously complicated, and that’s just too much to expect one person to do.  Backporting security fixes and other similar things that are already written and tested by Mozilla is one thing, but developing fully independently is something quite different. While it would be nice to see the project get the kind of support to be able to do that, it’s certainly not at that point now.

Waterfox also has no interest in sending telemetry data to Mozilla, with which the project is not associated.  It’s questionable even Mozilla would want this data… to them, it’s data about a modified Firefox 56, a version that is no longer supported anyway, and whose modifications are unsupported as far as they are concerned.  They only want data on code they wrote.

That’s why, as Microfix wrote, there are no entries in the telemetry URL fields.  Try the same search in about:config in Firefox and you’ll see they are populated, even if telemetry itself is turned off.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

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Bluetrix, Microfix

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Ascaris wrote:

You don’t have to worry about your place in the food chain. We’re all about getting to the truth here, if I may speak for the others. I’ve actually been happy to be shown to be wrong sometimes– it means there is an opportunity to learn something. I’m glad that you raised the point rather than just let it go when it was on your mind. Odds are that if you are thinking something, someone else will think the same, and having a discussion about it now can benefit people who haven’t even joined the site as well as those who have.

+1

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woody wrote:

I use DuckDuckGo or Google Search to find items on this site all the time. The built-in search works OK for typical queries. But Google’s the master at all of this.

Do you preface or suffix your search?

Say I look for Eggs here, do I ask, “eggs on Askwoody” or “Askwoody and eggs”

A curious mind wants to know, not a facetious  question.

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Use:
+eggs site:askwoody.com

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Bluetrix, Ascaris

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Hello, Firefox too, has telemetry like Windows. Even if one turns off the reporting (check box), it will still create telemetry files on your hard drive. Doing the below will turn off all telemetry and stop the continued creation of those “archive” files (Firefox 52.9).

toolkit.telemetry.unified false.
toolkit.telemetry.enabled false
toolkit.telemetry.archive.enabled false

I have done this a long time ago and the folders still remain empty. Before I did that, the folder was full of files. I deleted them and no new ones.

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