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Why is Mozilla sending my info to Google?

  • 6 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 8 views
  • Last reply by RobertJ

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This link on Collusion says it all.

Mozilla Collusion

This link on Collusion says it all. [http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=2438483&p=11795807#p11795807 Mozilla Collusion]

Modified by RobertJ

All Replies (6)

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How did you generate that graph?

When I browse around on mozilla.org I just get a bubble for webtrendslive.com.

If I start from google.com and go to mozilla.org, when I hover any of the site bubbles, the arrow goes from google.com to mozilla.org, not the other way. The add-on reports:


When you visit mozilla.org, it informs the following websites about you. webtrendslive.com

The site mozilla.org is potentially aware of your visits to the following websites. google.com

Maybe I don't understand this add-on very well?

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Oh, one way to generate that graph is to use the search box on mozilla.org, because it runs your query through Google Custom Search. This means the referring URL of the page on which you ran the search, and the data you entered into the search form, are sent to google.com. This could be of concern in some cases, but if that's all it is, the add-on might need to be a little clearer or let you drill down to see what's going on.

Another case in which referring URL information is sent is to display images from other web servers. Not sure whether mozilla.org does that with any images hosted on google.com.

And of course if there is a link from mozilla.org to any page on google.com, that also would send the referring URL.

Can anyone find any other way to get the arrow to run from mozilla.org to google.com?

EDIT: actually, my guess about the referring URL information is wrong: plain outbound links don't show any information sharing. Third party images that set a cookie are picked up, but the search form doesn't use a google.com image, so maybe it's the fact that a form is submitted to google.com which was the triggering event?

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

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I didn't generate the graph; it was generated by the Collusion add-on as I browsed.

The only thing I did was take a screen shot of the graph and a screen shot of what Collusion said in the "Site Info" tab when I hovered on the Firefox circle.

I don't recall the specific mozilla.org pages I visited since I look at many; however, Collusion indicated that the info was sent TO Google. Surprised me.

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Seems like we posted at the same time (almost). I did do a search on the Mozilla add-on page. I will have to try to replicate that after clearing Collusion.

If that is how it happened I have to question the effectiveness of Collusion. Can create a false impression.

VERIFIED: The link is created when doing a search on the add-on page AFTER selecting one of the results of the search. Still don't like the idea that Google knows what I searched for on the Mozilla site and what I clicked on.

Modified by RobertJ

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There is Safe browsing information send to Google to verify that the site isn't a phishing site or hosts malicious software if that is what you mean.

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cor-el, not what I mean.