this post was submitted on 13 Mar 2026
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228
Firefox's beta feature "Smart Window" shared browsing and search history to AI models without prompting (www.omgubuntu.co.uk)
submitted 4 hours ago by Beep@lemmus.org to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] XLE@piefed.social 48 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 1 hour ago

Finding out about this gives me some extra questions, though.

  • Was this data summarized on enabling this window, or before?
  • Did it use an existing model, or re-use one that someone may have already downloaded for a different feature?
  • Is this activity going anywhere else, like Mozilla's recent "privacy-preserving" advertising?
  • When this does release, what will the default be?
[–] Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] Even_Adder@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

It would be really cool if they didn't do that this time.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 2 points 3 hours ago

Hey, I'm not excited about more stuff getting added into an already overflowing Firefox (why not an extension?!), but if they must promote AI choice, I'm with you: actually allow user choice.

(Based on how Mozilla has added two unrequested search engines while ignoring a request to add StartPage, the "choice" thing seems to boil down to backroom deals.)

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 72 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 14 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

...and we'll all suffer as climate change increases. None of this shit is worth frying for.

[–] the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Dont worry the US and Israel are starting WW3 as we speak we will all be dead before then any way

[–] dorumon@lemmy.cafe 5 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

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. I will switch to Vivaldi. Something that doesn't have money issues and makes ad revenue through search engine deals that aren't Google and Bing. Something that will sync my browser data end to end encrypted where they cannot fucking see it. Truly go fuck Mozilla.

[–] Blisterexe@lemmy.zip 3 points 1 hour ago

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.

when did they do that?

[–] mintiefresh@piefed.social 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Waterfox. Librewolf. Zen. Floorp.

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

[–] callyral@pawb.social 4 points 1 hour ago

Have you seen the better browsing experience? It's on Zen. It's literally on Librewolf. It's on Floorp without ads. It's literally on Waterfox. You can probably find it on Ironfox. Dude it's on Ladybird. It's a Servo original. It's on GNOME Web. You can browse on GNOME Web. You can go to GNOME Web and browse it. Epiphany has it for you.

[–] TDCN@feddit.dk 54 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

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

[–] aceshigh@lemmy.world 1 points 47 minutes ago* (last edited 47 minutes ago)

I remember having ff and then switching to chrome because it was better, and then switching back to ff because it was better. I’m ok leaving ff again.

[–] Godort@lemmy.ca 59 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] Steve@communick.news 61 points 4 hours ago (5 children)

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

[–] Nindelofocho@lemmy.world 1 points 2 minutes ago

It only breaks sites because RFP is on by default and some greedy sites dont like RFP. You can just turn it off and use a good user agent mask (if you care about fingerprinting)

[–] cabbage@piefed.social 18 points 3 hours ago

I tried Librewolf for a while and found it to be a bit too much for me when all I really want is Firefox without AI. The privacy options are probably great but not for me.

Just installed waterfox. First impression is that I am super happy to be bock to the previous Firefox theme - it takes less space and looks nicer in my opinion. Seems promising. Thanks for the recommendation! :)

[–] chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 hours ago

Yeah Librewolf does go really fucking hard on security/privacy to the detriment of functionality, but the are upfront with that so you shouldn't be going in completely blind. I think Water Fox is a nice happy medium for users that don't want to fuck around with technical stuff.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 9 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

It might be easier to soften Librewolf than harden Firefox, but fair point.

If you're a relatively normal user and you still want to use LibreWolf, I would recommend:

  • disable fingerprinting
  • not clearing history on exit

Most of this is easy to find, especially thanks to the LibreWolf menu

[–] eli@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago (3 children)

Yeah it's all just in the GUI to enable and disable what you don't want.

I don't get what people are complaining about with LibreWolf being "too hard". Like it's 1 minute clicking through menus and you're done. 5 minutes if you need to read and search things up real quick.

But LibreWolf, ublock installed by default, and then set up containers. Just pure bliss.

[–] deleted@lemmy.world 1 points 57 minutes ago (2 children)

It broke youtube for me yesterday and mind you I’m a web developer and I didn’t know what broke it exactly to turn it on/off.

It fixed it self today though.

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 2 points 24 minutes ago

That was almost certainly YouTube breaking itself. They do a lot of public A-B testing without notifying the user of anything, even if it could break functionality.

The chances of Librewolf breaking, and updating in 24 hours is basically zero. Especially if you're on Windows since it doesn't update itself, you have to choose to install the separate updater application when you install Librewolf, otherwise it just doesn't update.

https://codeberg.org/librewolf/librewolf-winupdater

https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/

How often do you update LibreWolf?

LibreWolf is always based on the latest version of Firefox. Updates usually come within three days from each upstream stable release, at times even the same day. Unless problems arise, we always try to release often and in a timely manner.

It should however be noted that LibreWolf does not have auto-update capabilities, and therefore it relies on package managers or users to apply them.

[–] eli@lemmy.world 1 points 14 minutes ago

To be fair, YouTube is a giant piece of shit. On mobile, IronFox and Firefox are terrible with it, but switching to Chrome and everything loads instantly.

We all know Google is purposely slowing down non-chrome browsers.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 3 points 2 hours ago

For us, sure. For the average Joe who doesn't know about the side effects of fingerprinting, not so much.

[–] Nelots@piefed.zip 1 points 1 hour ago

Maybe, but if you want Librewolf but less extreme, that's what Waterfox is for. May as well just install that and avoid the 5 minute search. And this is coming from a long time Librewolf user.

[–] fizzle@quokk.au 1 points 1 hour ago

I just enable canvas on sites that need it.

Thats the only part of RFP that I find problematic.

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Wait, it does? I've not had site issues with either.

[–] Nelots@piefed.zip 2 points 1 hour ago

It can cause issues with default settings on the occasional site.

Since I had it on hand, here's a screenshot of what I encountered when playing Jackbox with friends. All images would look like this.MlYJ6D0Bnz8fAUv.png

[–] ilillilillilillililli@lemmy.world 15 points 3 hours ago

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

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 10 points 3 hours ago (5 children)

There's a master "kill switch" for all AI features in Firefox now. I suggest everyone who's concerned about this kind of thing just go and turn it off, and then we need never bother each other over this again.

[–] LostWanderer@fedia.io 4 points 2 hours ago

It's still opt out, not opt in because on first install that LLM garbage is enabled by default. The kill switch should've been for people that chose to try LLM garbage and found it lacking; needing an easy way to disable it all.

I won't stop complaining until Firefox makes their LLM nonsense opt-in, letting a user choose at first boot if they want that shit or not. That would be the most ethical and user respecting way to handle their LLM shit.

[–] chickenf622@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Or pick a Firefox fork that doesn't have the AI bullshit. Libre Wolf is great for people who take security very seriously,l. I hear Water Fox is a much closer equivalent to Firefox without AI, and also has a focus on privacy. I've also been using Iron Fox on my android with basically no issues.

With Mozilla's current track record I don't trust them to not fuck with the AI "killswitch".

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The only thing stopping me from switching is the unreliability of updates to uBlock on forked versions of Firefox.

[–] Dultas@lemmy.world 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I've been using Waterfox for months and not had a single issue with ublock origin or any other extension.

[–] AnchoriteMagus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Good to know! The last time I looked into it was early last year, good to know it works good for you.

[–] albbi@piefed.ca 5 points 2 hours ago

My master AI killswitch was just to switch to Waterfox.

[–] XLE@piefed.social 5 points 3 hours ago

"When it comes to privacy, defaults matter."

- Mozilla

Why not remove the AI and offer them as a separate extension? That way you're happy, and everybody else doesn't have crap shoved down their throats.

[–] KiwiTB@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

Till those options are turned off by the browser updating like has already happened with some people.

[–] FartsWithAnAccent@fedia.io 5 points 3 hours ago

Glad I turned that shit off right away.

[–] mimavox@piefed.social 10 points 4 hours ago

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

[–] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 12 points 4 hours ago

No thanks.

[–] senna@lemmy.world 3 points 3 hours 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.

[–] solrize@lemmy.ml 11 points 4 hours ago

They can't help themselves.

[–] Dultas@lemmy.world 3 points 2 hours ago

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