Firefox should really strip down the browser to the core, make that performant and secure. Maybe even improve extension interfaces and then deliver whatever "AI" nonsense they want through extensions. Would make it so easy to stop having to talk about kill switches and how "hard" those are. Offer people all the slop extensions in the world and see who will download them.
RE:
Mastodon
Firefox for Web Developers (@firefoxwebdevs@mastodon.social)
Firefox uses on-device downloaded-on-demand ML models for privacy-preserving translation. They're not LLMs. They're trained on open data. Should ...
 A Killswitch should of course kill all ML/AI functionality and people could then reactivate certain specific features of they want to, it's really not that hard. Just cause you consider a feature"better" than others does not override consent practices. View quoted note →
"In 2025 I have spend some time to untangle my digital life from billionaire/fascist run platforms. So at the beginning of 2026 maybe it makes sense to talk a bit about what I did, why I went certain ways and what works and what doesn’t." (Original title: Exiting the Billionaire Castle)
Smashing Frames
Exiting the Billionaire Castle
In 2025 I have spend some time to untangle my digital life from billionaire/fascist (that Venn diagram is becoming more of a circle each and every ...
I spent the last year migrating off of US billionaire controlled platforms and services. But there's very few clean ways and I am not 100% happy with all solutions. Might still make sense to make a short post on what I went for and why
Can't get sanctioned by other governments when you can just order Microsoft to sever their access to MS 365 thereby removing their access to email, document storage etc.
I wonder if any company has ever ruined their core product and reputation as much as Google did with search.
Maybe in 2026 we can start to agree that "a complex algorithm selects content" is an editorial stance and platforms should be responsible to a certain degree.
RE:
Legal.Social
Malte Engeler (@malteengeler@legal.social)
Die Berliner Stadtmission fährt bei diesen Temperaturen ❄️ mit Kältebussen durch die Stadt und hilft frierenden Menschen ohne Wohnung. Einer ...
 Ich habe gerade gespendet. Normalerweise ignoriere ich ihn ja, aber ich hatte am 27.12. Geburtstag. Spenden an den Kältebus wären ein ideales Geschenk View quoted note →
Which employer would you judge people more harshly for?
RE:
Mastodon
Firefox for Web Developers (@firefoxwebdevs@mastodon.social)
Something that hasn't been made clear: Firefox will have an option to completely disable all AI features. We've been calling it the AI kill switch...
 I like that Firefox is (through @Jake Archibald) communicating. But the point is not really if you can disable the features TBH. I think the problem is how Firefox/Mozilla is perceived: Putting a whole lot of resources into AI gambles (that the community does not seem to be too thrilled about to say the least) while seemingly losing all focus on the Open Web as something to work on, strengthen and defend. Especially with Google/Chrome's dominance. The new CEO coming in and just hammering "AI" while never talking about how exactly those systems can only exist by harming the open web is a bad sign. It's not so much about distrust of the engineers working on Firefox and them adding a switch or not. It's about a communicated vision that seemingly pushes aside all the things people want Firefox to exist for. View quoted note →