[parsimo2010]

You can also turn off sponsored tiles, so this isn’t different in that respect.

Plus, while Mozilla the corporation is technically a for profit entity, they operate under the direction of the not for profit Mozilla Foundation. They are already the best choice for a browser that is free from an SV company’s influence. But they do have to pay their employees and keep the lights on. How are they supposed to pay for things if they don’t do stuff like this? At least they are honest about which things they are making money from.

[panpanna]

> You can also turn off sponsored tiles, so this isn’t different in that respect.

The point is, I should not need to keep a close eye on Mozilla and disable stuff regularly. I should not need to fight my browser.

[Krisando]

> I should not need to keep a close eye on Mozilla

That is a bit hyperbolic. You see a feature in the browser you don't like, you can turn it off. Not really a 'close eye' issue to me.

> I should not need to fight my browser.

This also is hyperbolic, switching a single option is fighting with a browser?

[mPReDiToR]

On a FF install...

Turn off telemetry. Set search to DDG. Set "Do Not Track" always on. Get rid of the Mozilla start page. Disable any suggestions for Top Sites or other junk like "Snippets".

That's just as I type, with no thought. There are myriad tweaks in about:config that I've promised myself I'll remember over the years since Phoenix.

My favourite browser is adversarial because they need millions of dollars to write a piece of software which shows text and pictures from a network connection in the intended place on a screen.

Why is this so complicated and expensive? What has the Internet become?

Turn it off and start over. This one is broken.

[jamienicol]

The only one of those that's plausibly "adversarial" is telemetry (and I strongly disagree about that). The rest are just settings for which you don't want the defaults

[Krisando]

> Turn off telemetry. Set search to DDG. Set "Do Not Track" always on. Get rid of the Mozilla start page. Disable any suggestions for Top Sites or other junk like "Snippets".

I just login to my Mozilla account, and move buttons on the UI around (for some reason that's the one thing that isn't synced).

> Why is this so complicated and expensive?

In the older days, people were willing to give up more for their faiths, their drives. You could make this choice and essentially live a life of service if you wanted.

> What has the Internet become?

It's still an open network and there is nothing stopping you really from doing your own thing on it.

[bllguo]

There are a lot of "should"s in the world. People should not feel entitled to something they use extensively but do not pay for, yet here we are.