468879 - Add a preference to disable plugins inside the private browsing mode

Status: RESOLVED INVALID

(Firefox :: Private Browsing, enhancement, P3)

Description

[(no longer active)]

In the security review for the private browsing mode, I suggested adding a preference to disable plugins altogether inside the private browsing mode.  Such a pref shouldn't probably be set by default, because many users would complain, but privacy-conscious users will probably appreciate such a pref.

Even with bug 468877 fixed, we would need such a pref as well, because bug 468877 enabled plugins opting in to respect the private browsing mode, and that may not be enough for all users.

Comment 1

[(no longer active)]

Mass moving of all Firefox::General private browsing bugs to Firefox::Private Browsing.

Comment 2

[Mike Connor [:mconnor]]

Not needed for 3.1.

Comment 3

[(no longer active)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> Not needed for 3.1.

I think we actually would want this for 3.1 (see bug 484792 for an example of why this would be useful), adding the wanted flag for evaluation.

Comment 4

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

I don't think bug 484792 is asking for those plugins to be _disabled_. I would expect users to very much want their plugins for watching videos while ... uhm .. shopping.

Comment 5

[(no longer active)]

(In reply to comment #4)
> I don't think bug 484792 is asking for those plugins to be _disabled_. I would
> expect users to very much want their plugins for watching videos while ... uhm
> .. shopping.

No, it's not asking for the plugins to be disabled, but it shows one case for this bug: privacy conscious users might want their plugins to be disabled inside the private browsing mode, in order to make sure no external piece of software leaves traces of their activities on the computer.  I think it's safe to assume that any user sophisticated enough to set a pref in about:config is supposed to know the implications (i.e., loss of functionality because of the plugins being disabled).

Comment 6

[Ulrich Windl]

Recently I realized that even "private browsing" does not stop plugins from possibly loggin URIs. So maybe a warning for private browsing could be added whenever a plug-in is called. Maybe for plug-ins something like the popup-blocker is needed (taht is, individually trust your plugins or not).

Comment 7

[wiki131wiki]

I agree, while in private browsing mode, the user should have an option to:

1) disable all plugins
2) disable all addons
3) enable "Do Not Track"

Plugins/addons can potentially log info and leaves traces behind so it would be in the user's best interest to allow the option.

Comment 8

[sjw]

I guess this can be closed due https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/npapi-plugins

Comment 9

[(no longer active)]

Yes!