Mozilla defies Kremlin, restores banned Firefox add-ons in Russia
Mozilla defies Kremlin, restores banned Firefox add-ons in Russia
Browser maker decided not to follow Putin's orders. Well done
Mozilla has reinstated certain add-ons for Firefox that earlier this week had been banned in Russia by the Kremlin.
The browser extensions, which are hosted on the Mozilla store, were made unavailable in the Land of Putin on or around June 8 after a request by the Russian government and its internet censorship agency, Roskomnadzor.
Among those extensions were three pieces of code that were explicitly designed to circumvent state censorship – including a VPN and Censor Tracker, a multi-purpose add-on that allowed users to see what websites shared user data, and a tool to access Tor websites.
The day the ban went into effect, Roskomsvoboda – the developer of Censor Tracker – took to the official Mozilla forums and asked why his extension was suddenly banned in Russia with no warning.
"We recently noticed that our add-on is now unavailable in Russia, despite being developed specifically to circumvent censorship in Russia," dev zombbo complained. "We did not violate Mozilla's rules in any way, so this decision seems strange and unfair, to be honest."
Another developer for a banned add-on chimed in that they weren't informed either.
The internet org's statement at the time mentioned the ban was merely temporary. It turns out wasn't mere PR fluff, as Mozilla tells The Register that the ban has now been lifted.
"In alignment with our commitment to an open and accessible internet, Mozilla will reinstate previously restricted listings in Russia," the group declared. "Our initial decision to temporarily restrict these listings was made while we considered the regulatory environment in Russia and the potential risk to our community and staff.
"We remain committed to supporting our users in Russia and worldwide and will continue to advocate for an open and accessible internet for all."
Lifting the ban wasn't completely necessary for users to regain access to the add-ons – two of them were completely open source, and one of the VPN extensions could be downloaded from the developer's website.
Special plugin operation.
52Special plug
inoperation.3
I love how the developer's name is "roskomSVOBODA" (svoboda means something like freedom) in contrast to the name of the censorship agency "roskomNADZOR" (supervision).
Forgive me if i got it wrong. My russian is terrible
50You are absolutely correct, you got both of them right!
19Yep. Correct. Also RosComSvoboda is Pirate Party without saying Pirate Party.
6
Heh, I wonder how the ml tankies are spinning this one and what browser they're going to use instead of Nazifox or whatever stupid name they're using for it now.
48You are confusing ml with twitter.
5I recently blocked that instance, so who knows?
2Guess it's time to use it
1
Why the fuck should any government decide what software you can run? Especially free software. How threatened or insecure must they be? What a true show of cowardice.
39you can expect some USA whataboutism regarding tiktok or wardialing or wardriving etc.
14Right. And I don’t want any Chinese spyware, or NSA spyware, or Israeli spyware on any of my shit either. But here we are I guess.
18
well just upped my firefox donation :)
for those curious you can always make an additional one time donation in addition to your monthly one
15I guess this means Fox News and OAN are about to start demonizing Firefox.
14Anything to make the Kremlin rage to make more mistakes.
14Fuck Russia
13Fuck Russian politics and policies* I like to believe that most Russians just want to live and drink vodka
24I'm more of a medovukha kind of guy, but yes, indeed, we do. Thank you for saying this
11I'm American and I just want to live and drink vodka.
4The old saying goes that Russian history can be summarized as "And then it got worse." The Russians are victims of their own history, and they are the first group that Putin terrorized (quite literally with the known false flag operation).
They have such a rich culture and truly bright minds. There could be wonderful scientific collaboration and cultural exchange. I'd love to see a technological rivalry reminiscent of the cold war (without all the proxy fights and nuclear threats and animosity).
I hope that it'll be in my lifetime where we're able to sit down and drink beer and vodka together and be on friendly terms as countries.
4I want not to drink, but use 70% vodka as safe solvent. And live.
3
I can't imagine what it's like to not to be able to live honestly without getting disappeared.
12Feels lonely, most of all. I don't fear the cops or ex-wagners I walk past every time I go to the store. It's the radio silence in once popular channels whose owners were "disappeared", and friends either in exile or too scared to even go out, that makes me feel devastated.
9Depending on how the US elections go in November, Americans may soon find out.
6
Excellent. Now do Dissenter.
7Way to grow some balls Mozilla!
5Low hanging fruit. Pony sites were saying "rkn, fuck you" for a long time
1
I think that's the right thing to do, but they still gave in in the first place... Let's hope they keep it that way.
-21No, as they said, they temporarily disabled it while they figured out what their options were and what to do. Then they did that.
89They were afraid to lose 4% of the audience in Russia and the favor of the Russian government (probably some grants,idk). Now they are afraid to lose those who think that it's "the right thing to do".
Btw, it's not that hard for the Russian government to block every VPN extension like they did with Nord VPN and Surfshark VPN let alone ban Mozilla. This action will help no one and it's yet another act of virtue signaling
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