Open Menu
AllLocalCommunitiesAbout
lotide
AllLocalCommunitiesAbout
Login

Firefox's beta feature "Smart Window" shared browsing and search history to AI models without prompting

⁨156⁩ ⁨likes⁩

Submitted ⁨⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩ by ⁨Beep@lemmus.org⁩ to ⁨technology@lemmy.world⁩

https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2026/03/firefox-smart-window-hands-on

source

Comments

Sort:hotnewtop
  • dorumon@lemmy.cafe ⁨26⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    So I feel violated and gross and I never wanna use Firefox again. I don’t care if you can self host it. I don’t care if it’s private. Mozilla propagandists need to fucking understand that their privacy policy does not reassure me. Nor does the fact that they went back on the AI kill switch and sent my information that should’ve been private to someone else’s computer a good thing. It is fucking bad and I hope Mozilla fucking implodes. In the rise of fascist governments and the need for privacy. This is unacceptable and I refuse to even use a third party fork of Firefox. The best feature arguably that made Firefox worth while that being syncing has been basically weaponized potentially into something evil that will be used against people. Especially as they have long since updated their policies to make sure law enforcement can gain access to your personal information anyway.

    source
  • XLE@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    Relevant section:

    Smart Window uses ‘memories’, things Mozilla says “…it learns from your activity” to inform its responses.

    You can delete memories individually, and you can set any given chat session to not use/store them.

    Fine so far.

    The problem? My memory list isn’t populated with things Smart Window learned since I enabled it. Oh no.

    It has activity going back months. We’re talking searches and website interactions from long before I enabled this. features.

    Firefox just handed that history to the AI models to plough from, without telling me upfront.

    I found this the creepiest aspect of Smart Window.

    Mozilla says this was a flub; it will refine the onboarding around Smart Window to limit memory formation to post-opt-in activity only. That’s obviously the right fix.

    Because sharing a user’s prior browsing history with third-party AI models, silently, on feature activation, without any headset? Yeah, a bit icky – but that’s the price of testing features that are finished, I guess.

    source
    • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨18⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      I’m willing to give them a pass since this was a development build and while someone probably should’ve thought of it, it’s the kind of bug that can happen. If this was the public release it would be a lot more outrageous.

      source
    • Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      There’s also an option to bring your own LLM, with fields for model name, endpoint, and API token available for entry when the manual option is enabled. However, the page itself warns local models may not work correctly.

      It looks like there’s an option for people to self-host too. You won’t have to send your history to someone else’s computer.

      source
      • XLE@piefed.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

        If it’s anything like how they handled the AI sidebar, this option is going to get hidden before it hits production.

        source
        • -> View More Comments
  • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    The speed at which firefox has been enshittified is as impressive as it is sad.

    source
    • DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

      …and we’ll all suffer as climate change increases. Seriously, none of this shit is worth frying for.

      source
  • TDCN@feddit.dk ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    F*** I really dont want to change away from Firefox. Pleas be good Firefox. Please! Don’t F this up.

    source
    • Godort@lemmy.ca ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      Librewolf is exactly the same browser with all the security features dialed to 11 and all the AI removed.

      source
      • Steve@communick.news ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

        And it breaks sooo many sites.
        Waterfox, is Firefox that just works.

        source
        • -> View More Comments
    • ilillilillilillililli@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

      Its too late, bro. You gotta break it off and start mingling with the forks.

      source
  • mintiefresh@piefed.social ⁨22⁩ ⁨minutes⁩ ago

    Waterfox. Librewolf. Zen. Floorp.

    They’re all good options in their own ways. Just pick one and go

    source
  • Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    No thanks.

    source
  • Dultas@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    Guess I need to self host sync now as I don’t trust Mozilla with any of my data at this point.

    source
  • solrize@lemmy.ml ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    They can’t help themselves.

    source
  • mimavox@piefed.social ⁨2⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

    One would think they’d be extra careful not to piss the users off at this point… but no.

    source
  • senna@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨hour⁩ ago

    Just let them shoot themselves in the foot. Get familiar with the forks. Someone at Mozilla has no idea what they’re doing. You would think they would learn their lesson last AI garbage but I guess not.

    source