1816372 - The ETP strict in PBM pref is reset back to its default after a browser restart if it was manually changed

Status: NEW

(Core :: Privacy: Anti-Tracking, defect, P3)

Description

[Cosmin Muntean [:cmuntean], Ecosystem QA]

Attachment: pref is reset after a restat.mp4

[Affected versions]:

• Firefox 110.0 RC (Build ID: 20230206190557)
• Nightly 111.0a1 (Build ID: 20230212085204)

[Affected Platforms]:

• Mac 12.4
• Windows 10 x64
• Linux Mint 20

[Prerequisites]:

• Have Firefox 110 extracted/installed.
• Have a new firefox profile.

[Steps to reproduce]:

1. Open the Firefox browser with the profile from the prerequisites.
2. Navigate about:config and search for the "privacy.annotate_channels.strict_list.pbmode.enabled" pref.
3. Set the pref to "true" and restart the browser.
4. Navigate back to about:config and search for the "privacy.annotate_channels.strict_list.pbmode.enabled" pref.
5. Observe the value of the pref.

[Expected result]:

• The pref respects the user choice and remains set to true.

[Actual result]:

• The pref doesn't respect the user choice and is set back to false.

[Additional Notes]:

• The issue is also reproducible on Nightly where the "privacy.annotate_channels.strict_list.pbmode.enabled" pref is by default true. If the pref is set to false, after a browser restarts the pref is set back to true.
• I have attached a screen recording of the issue.

Comment 1

[Tim Huang[:timhuang]]

This is because we will reset the prefs for the ETP setting back to the value that matches the current ETP mode when the browser starts up. See here.