Ok. Goodbye chrome. I will be switching to whatever privacy-focused browser allows me to keep not seeing ads.
I do wonder how long it will be before we see browser browsers, software that takes a browser instance and sanitizes it. Maybe chrome will continue as a daemon allowed to run inside a sandbox within a browser's browser that actually displays content to a human.
And ads! Mandatory shortcuts for Nike and Amazon on the homepage! Then ads saying Big Browser Watches For You! Then ads saying we respect privacy! Then a suggestion to open a Mozilla account and synchronize all your history! Because we respect privacy!
Why not change your homepage to something you prefer? And don’t create or sign into a Mozilla account; host your own sync server instead https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34674569
I’ve searched for so long that I found the documentation of Mozilla saying, on the day of the release, that no, the shortcuts on the home page, can’t be removed.
Unfortunately, Firefox is still an ads machine. They keep coming up with “WE PROTECT YOUR PRIVACY” dark patterns to make us gobble up ads.
The worst is getting downvotes every time we point this out. Firefox defenders are extremely bad-faithed, they can’t have a rational discussion about Firefox having mere drawbacks, especially they can’t hear that Firefox misdirects users about privacy and ads.
> The worst is getting downvotes every time we point this out
I didn't down vote you.
No solution is 100% perfect in the tech world. I won't knock them for trying to make some money to keep afloat, even if they aren't (probably) the best at managing money.
I care if I can't turn them off. As you've pointed out, you can do that.
There's no date on your referenced article (pet peeve), so I can't tell when it was done. However it's been a long time (so much I so, I can't even remember) that I've seen ads that I couldn't turn off.
I do wonder how long it will be before we see browser browsers, software that takes a browser instance and sanitizes it. Maybe chrome will continue as a daemon allowed to run inside a sandbox within a browser's browser that actually displays content to a human.