back to article Mozilla refuses US request to ban Firefox add-on

Mozilla officials have refused a US government request to ban a Firefox add-on that helps people to access sites that use internet domain names confiscated in an unprecedented seizure earlier this year. The request came from officials at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency under the Department of Homeland …

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  1. Dan 55 Silver badge
    WTF?

    Oh, fecking nonsense

    Ban GreaseMonkey, it's can do even more stuff than this add-on.

    And ban bookmarks.

    And ban Notepad, you can jot down evil addresses and save them to a file which you can look up later.

    1. John G Imrie
      Big Brother

      You forgot ...

      To ban reading and writing as well.

      1. Yag

        Already in progress...

        Just look at the state of public schools.

  2. DannyAston
    Thumb Down

    The title is required, and must contain letters and/or digits.

    As if Mozilla were ever going to agree to that anyway!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So that's going to be...

    ... www.firefox.com added to the next confiscation spree then

  4. Graham Marsden
    Thumb Up

    Bravo for Mozilla!

    The US authorities have gone *way* over the line in this case and there's no way I can see that any court would justify their actions.

    1. Dan Beshear
      Coat

      You forget...

      that this is the United States. Uncle Sham just killed bin Laden and thinks he can do whatever he damn well pleases. Court order? Bah, just bypass those Commie bastards.

      I'm looking for a good place to emigrate. I'm looking for a low debt-to-GDP ratio, a lack of extradition to the US, Anglish-speaking, and preferably semi-tropical to tropical climate.

      1. farizzle
        Thumb Up

        on your doorstep...

        errr.. Cuba

        1. Dan Beshear
          FAIL

          You must be a Yank

          Cubans don't speak Anglish. You must have failed for what passes as American geography.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Thumb Up

            Anglish

            but he can set up an Anglo-Saxon Anglish school in Cuba and get resources and networks to support the work from the British council :D

            http://www.britishcouncil.org/cuba.htm

            and apparently they do very nice blends roast peas and coffee blend over there now so any american would feel right at home ;D

            http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13277174

        2. bazza Silver badge
          Pint

          @farizzle

          Cuba? Thought that they spoke Spanish there...

          Obviously it has to be Britain. Apart from the climate. And the US extraditability. But for those two inadequacies (anyway made up for by the beer and cheese), it's the perfect place.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            tea and chips

            and dont forget bazza you also get real tea and chips over there not like that muck they ended up tipping in the sea, you get all the nice CCTV all over too as an added bonus for free, so your US mates can still keep real-time track of your movements as it's being streamed directly to the Data retention CIA etc kit.

          2. longbeast
            Stop

            re: Obviously it has to be Britain.

            You can rule out moving to Britain, as we are currently running our immigration policy in "fuck off you filthy foreign bastards" mode. Severely limiting immigration is a policy that's going to be here for a long while to come.

            I suggest moving to Liberia. It's a lovely place. It has a post office, and some roads. Not much else in the way of infrastructure, but it is a lovely little post office.

          3. g e

            Don't come to Britain

            Cos if you change your mind you'll discover the gubbernment keeps you just poor enough so you can't afford to leave...

          4. farizzle
            Go

            well...

            i know for sure Cubans know about as much 'Anglish' as they need to get by as the poster, or am i missing something else :)

      2. Peter Murphy
        Pint

        Try Australia.

        Low debt-to-GDP? Check. English-speaking? Check. Semi-tropical to tropical climate? Try Brisbane or Darwin. (Or Sydney, although it gets a bit chilly in the winter.)

        Unfortunately, we have extradition treaties with the US, but we can't extradite anyone who is looking at a death sentence. (In practice, the US will reduce it to life imprisonment.) And our talk-back radio is often stupidly vicious. Try before you buy, as they sau.

        Beer: because we have lots of nice brew over here to suit any palate - Coopers, James Boag, Little Creatures, James Squire, etc. (Not Fosters. That's for clueless foreigners, and you don't seem to be clueless.)

      3. Swarthy
        Go

        Not sure about debt-to-GDP ratio

        But Belize is the main place I'm looking. the National language is English (Spanish also) tho they speak a pigeon form, but it's not hard to learn.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Black Helicopters

        extradition to the US

        1. Venezuela

        2. Bolivia

  5. Combat Wombat
    Pint

    It's stuff like this mozilla ....

    that makes me love you :D

  6. Mectron

    curupted

    this shows the extend of how far the US goverment is currupted. There is real criminal is RIAA/MPAA

    1. Marky W
      Heart

      Oh, I dunno

      I quite like the US Gov / RIAA / MPAA for this.

      I'd never heard of this add-on before, and now I've checked it out and downloaded it. Cheers for the recommendation, guys!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Alt roots!

    What happened to those?

  8. Spanners Silver badge
    Grenade

    @Mectron

    So the US Government is supporting criminal groups again?

    Thinking about that, I suppose they have never stopped. All that has changed is that instead of supporting violent criminals such as Pinochet, Noriega and Saddam Hussein or terrorists like the IRA and the Contras they now support financial criminals.,,

    1. sabba
      Paris Hilton

      Are you kidding...

      ...the US government has always had a policy of actively supporting corporate criminals (which ones depends on who is in power at the time). After all, corporate greed is what has made the country 'great' - unless of course you're one of the poorer inhabitants and living in an environment that would put some third world countries to shame!!

      Paris? Well because some how the Hilton name seems appropriate here!! :-)

  9. Asgard
    Big Brother

    In "the land of the free"

    Hey US government, the US national anthem included the words "the land of the free" for a reason. Censorship isn't freedom.

    This attempt to silence the plugin writer is yet more proof the US government serves the wishes of the rich and powerful and not the people. Thats a Kleptocracy not a Democracy. People don't want this Police State shit of increasing censorship, especially when this increasing state control is due to the loss of control of the rich media distributors, who's outdated business models can't compete in a era when the Internet makes the distributors redundant. So the rich distributors are getting the state to do the enforcement for them. Thats a Kleptocracy.

    Democracy - "a form of government in which all citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives"

    Kleptocracy - "extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class" and ruling class in America like everywhere is the rich and powerful in business.

    So which is it US government. Are you a Kleptocracy serving only a rich few or are you a Democracy representing the people. Choose now US government, because people all around the world have had enough of their arrogant corrupt governments and of being endlessly exploited and lied to by their rich and powerful and so are now starting to show that in their attempts to throw out their old rulers and choose new leaders with new sets of rules for their new leaders.

    This greedy Police State bullshit has gone far enough.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Headmaster

      Re: Democracy

      Agree with you about the censorship part, but I think you'll find that the US has never been a Democracy. Rather, it is a Representative Republic. Yes, there is a difference.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Megaphone

      Police State

      Then do something.

      Run for congress.

      Donate to EFF.

      Atleast you are putting pressure on the "Kleptocracy" from staying in power.

    3. mittfh

      Kleptocracy?

      "Extend the personal wealth and political power of government officials and the ruling class"

      Yup, sounds like the political elite in Westminster. They have silly salaries, but feel that's not enough money for their liking, so they subvert the expenses system to get more money (and feel entirely justified for doing so). Meanwhile, they decide that they don't like taking the blame for spending decisions, so they delegate those downward. When the funding drops, politicians can then blame the organisations for not spending wisely when services inevitably suffer, as the politicians no longer control how the money is used.

      Oh, and of course any attempt to make politicians more accountable to their public is fiercely resisted, hence the recent referendum between two c**p systems of electing politicians.

    4. Dave 15

      In "the land of the free" - joke I alert was needed

      Saying America is the land of the free is about as far from the truth as claiming Britain is a democracy. The only thing true in both is that the rich are getting massively rich and the rest of the world can go hang. This is supported my the various (rich of course) media moguls that keep the average American/Brit happy with the glitzy pics of some 'star' (also being made rich to keep them onside) currently having their illicit wicked way with another 'starlet'.

      Unfortunately for those of us with a brain and an empty back pocket we can't join in this and have to watch rather depressed while the thicko's ignore the blatant evidence and carry on thinking they have it some how 'good'.

      The difference between either of us and a North Korean dictatorship is only in the amount of money the rich have.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Kenetically Buffaloed

    1. Overawe or intimidate (someone) - "she didn't like being buffaloed"

    2. Baffle (someone) - "the problem has buffaloed the advertising staff"

    You can't say it was the last administration, this is the hip cool transparent kind-to-hippies facetweeting US administration. These folks seem to follow the 'better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission' style of management from the top down.

    Legal Disclaimer: Just an observation, not an endorsement for or against this subject - the author does not want to appear biased.

  11. mike panero

    Man with the biggest stick

    Wins

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    We need to take back the internet

    Maybe Anonymous will DDOS US government websites in retaliation? I hope so. They should also find a way to take down Stock Exchange sites, hack into NASDAQ's system and change a few numbers, etc, etc, etc.

    We need to take the internet back from the hand of those freaking Nazis. We need to punish them too. Power to the people.

  13. Neal 5

    The biggest bullies

    are the biggest cowards.

    Schoolyard psychology, explains so much about the rapidly increasing downwards descent of American attitude to the rest of the world.

    1. Kibble
      Black Helicopters

      @ Neal 5

      As opposed to the treatment of its own population/residents?

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      @the the biggest bully

      , explains so much about the rapidly increasing downwards descent of American attitude to the rest of the world

      And so results in the rapidly increasing downwards descent of the rest of the worlds attitude to the USA.

      (Please use USA), as we don't want to lump the poor Canadians and Central and Southern Americans with this lot.

      1. Zippy the Pinhead
        Flame

        @the biggest bully

        Don't lump me in with those idiots who have no idea what the Bill of Rights means... and Innocent until Proven guilty means!

    3. hplasm
      Go

      But also-

      The biggest psychos. You can't 'stand up to them', you can only take them down, but they have to stay down.

      Bullies, that is...

      Tricky, that.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    @ Dan Beshear

    "Court order? Bah, just bypass those Commie bastards."

    That would be one Commie bastard bypassing his fellow Commie bastards....

  15. Tony Paulazzo
    FAIL

    Fuck the US!

    Title pretty much sums up my feelings.

  16. Purlieu

    re: ban Notebook

    Ban paper and pencils too, those evil tools of the anarchist/terrorist where they can actually write down stuff that can't be tracked online. Nothing to hide ?

  17. John G Imrie

    A Quote

    Beware of him who would deny you access to information for in his heart he considers himself your master. -- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri

  18. FuzzyTheBear
    Joke

    Register Take Down

    Because of your publishing the URL for the add-on the RIAA will serve The Register a take down notice. Nice work.

  19. Doug Glass
    Go

    Sometimes you just gotta cheer ...

    ... for the underdog. It may be true, "You can't fight city hall", but you can sure make them look foolish. Stick to your guns Mozilla.

  20. Rob Crawford

    Hmmm, thats good

    so the makers of browsers are now responsible for the actions of the browsers users?

  21. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    MAFIAAFire suck..

    .. the idea is good, but the developer has made ad-ware/spyware instead of a redirector. Also, ICE / MAFIAA can just take his domains down, and then the addon doesn't work anymore.

    You might wanna use FireICE instead: https://addons.mozilla.org/da/firefox/addon/fireice/ <-- will also give you a list of reasons to use that addon instead of the "Mafiaafire" addon.

  22. NoneSuch Silver badge
    Happy

    This title is required apparently...

    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." ~Edmund Burke

    Warm applause for Mozilla for doing something to combat the insanity.

  23. Malcom Ryder 1

    National Security?

    What exactly does streaming live sporting events have to do with national security? Remember homeland security was made in the wake of the 911 attacks. Mozilla called them out on this, good for them. No way Homeland security can actually do anything. As for all my whinny fellow Americans who are so worried about the debt, give the government some money, come on patriot, if you really loved your country you'd dig deep in your pockets. If not shut up and quit making every post into a whine about what the post isn't.

  24. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Accessibility standards?

    Can anyone in the US sue the goverment for not making their holding pages on the seized domains accessible to those with various limitations (e.g. partially sighted, blind, learning difficulties etc?). Might be an interesting case :)

  25. Goat Jam
    Paris Hilton

    It's a nice sentiment

    and I suppose it is more user friendly for the total n00bs but couldn't the same be done by adding these sites to your hosts file?

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @It's a nice sentiment

    Lets hope so ... given that the way this works is to send web addresses off to somewhere to decide if you should be sent to a "mirror site" instead then this could be then could be a brilliant phishing tool ... you type "www.mybank.com" and magically via this add-on you end up at "www.boysfromlagos.ng"!

  27. Martin Usher
    Pirate

    I wonder how long it would take....

    This whole confiscating of domain names thing struck me as being conceived by people with a profound ignorance about how the Interweb actually works.

    I especially like the irony in the notion that the original brief for DARPA -- aka "The US Government" -- was to come up with a network system that was decentralized, a system that had no single point of failure (or control). The developers gave them what they asked for. If there ever was a case of "Be careful what you ask for because you might just get it"...

  28. dlc.usa
    Grenade

    How To Route Around Censorship

    We still have a long way to go before the global network envisioned by John Brunner in "The Shockwave Rider" is functioning and able to work no matter how any government might be motivated and empowered to control it. The key is complete mobility, as every member of Ender's teams understood--when dealing with serious opposition, never stand still. Services must be provided by a mesh of thousands of systems, each always on the move, physically and via connections, always popping in and out of addressability and always changing addresses; not dependent on centrally controlled infrastructure that is not essential for all network transactions. In other words, the only way to censor the service is to interrupt all networking.

    1. Mephistro
      Grenade

      In a few years more...

      ... they will probably make illegal any technology that allows these 'free networks' to exist. If they passed the DMCA they can pass anything.

  29. Mephistro
    Coat

    The USA is full of contrasts

    A country where rent-a-cops do the work of real cops, while real cops and government agencies work for private interests. That must be part of their system of 'checks and balances'. :-)

    Now, seriously, how about swapping our old and corrupt 'democracies' for some new and shiny demarchies*? Can't be worse than what we have now.

    More details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demarchy

  30. JaitcH
    WTF?

    No doubt it is a novelty for ICE for someone to actually ...

    and question their bona fides. After all the are part of the world's greatest government and Mozilla is an American outfit who should be pulling their forelocks and prostrating themselves before the flag.

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