Ubuntu's new Firefox is watching you

sukotto writes: Ubuntu recently released an unannounced and experimental "multisearch" extension to Firefox alpha3... apparently to improve the default behavior of new tabs and of search. In a response to one of the initial bug reports the maintainers mentioned that the extension's other purpose was for "collecting the usage data" and "Generating revenue" [citation] . Since this extension installs by itself and offers no warning about potential privacy violations, quite a few people (myself included) feel pretty unhappy.

There is no way to opt-out other than manually disabling the extension via Tools >> Add-ons.

What is this "Multisearch" thing in my Firefox?

[Anonymous Custard]

From one of the multisearch developers: http://www.asoftsite.org/s9y/archives/162-What-is-this-Multisearch-thing-in-my-Firefox-about.html [asoftsite.org]

Firefox 3.5 not included

[mounthood]

I was more disappointed to find out that Firefox 3.5 wasn't going to be released for Ubuntu's current distribution (9.04). The reason I use Ubuntu in the first place was to have new software in an easy way. Windows users get the new version when it's released, but not Ubuntu? You can add an archive and remap symlinks, but that's really missing the point. Guess it's time to look at other distributions again.

Re:

[nicodoggie]

It's in Jaunty. just do a:

sudo apt-get install firefox-3.5

I don't remember needing to add a PPA for this. It isn't the default firefox though... use

sudo update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

to change the default browser for most apps.