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Mozilla restores Firefox add-ons banned in Russia
(www.theregister.com)
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this post was submitted on 14 Jun 2024
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What impact? You mean having Russians use a browser that allows the state to spy on them? If someone goes to prison for using Firefox to post something critical of the government, is that the impact Mozilla wants to have?
At a certain point you have to say "if the government of an authoritarian makes it illegal to use our browser because we aren't going along with them spying on their citizens then so be it."
It's debatable at what point a software company becomes morally complicit with the oppression done by an authoritarian government. But it seems to me the wisest choice is to say "this is our software, take it or leave it."
Yes, there certainly is a point, and removing 3 add-ons from the default add-on store isn't that point. They should instead make more ways for people to get those add-ons (e.g. separate add-on repos and easier side-loading) instead of just forcing the government to block them.
Getting Firefox blocked doesn't accomplish anything other than a one-time publicity stunt, which will probably get censored anyway. If they don't have many users in Russia anyway, maybe that's worth doing to get more exposure in other markets. But if the goal is to help Russians, I don't see how this helps.
Eh, anyone who knows what "Install an add-on from a repo" means also knows how to install firefox despite it being "censored".
Perhaps, but perhaps the police would monitor attempts to download Firefox and put those individuals on a watch list. They're probably less likely to monitor various repos and their mirrors.
I just don't see much of a benefit for Firefox to push back too hard here. If they required Firefox to censor things that's another story, but putting up a "this addon is not available in your region."