770115 - Thumbnail storage setting should be explicit

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox :: Tabbed Browser, defect)

Description

[dindog]

I was shocked when I check out my profile folder today found that there is a Thumbnail folder more than 70MB in size, containing enormous thumbnails of page I've been.

I thought thumbnail service is only for the NewTab page, that won't hurt if just 9 screen-shots and I can see what they are.

When Firefox captures so many screen-shots and keeps it in hard drive without protection, I think users should be warned they surfing has been capture and may leak their personal data if those image got in wrong hands, before Firefox takes screen-shot. 

And preference of toggle thumbnail service should be more explicit, IMHO, it shouldn't enable by default.

Comment 1

[dindog]

one more off-topic question: 
When I delete a history item, does the corresponding thumbnail will be delete too?

Comment 2

[(mostly gone) XtC4UaLL [:xtc4uall]]

AFIK the Thumbnails are used by the New Tab Page *and* also the Tab Groups Feature.

It would be nice to know if a Trigger for 
a) deleting already saved ones 
b) not creating new ones

could be implemented when none of *both' Features is being used by the User.
If only one is unused I think it's unavoidable to continue the Storing.

Comment 3

[dindog]

CC some guys of Bug 497543

Comment 4

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

(In reply to dindog from comment #0)
> I was shocked when I check out my profile folder today found that there is a
> Thumbnail folder more than 70MB in size, containing enormous thumbnails of
> page I've been.

Bug 754671. We'll keep most of your thumbnails for not longer than a day if we don't need them.

(In reply to dindog from comment #1)
> When I delete a history item, does the corresponding thumbnail will be
> delete too?

Yes.

(In reply to XtC4UaLL [:xtc4uall] from comment #2)
> AFIK the Thumbnails are used by the New Tab Page *and* also the Tab Groups
> Feature.

The thumbnail service is a basic service that is planned to be used for more features in the future.

> It would be nice to know if a Trigger for 
> a) deleting already saved ones

We delete all thumbnails if you clear your history. You can also clear your history at shutdown.

> b) not creating new ones

You can use the private browsing mode. Also, bug 726347.

> could be implemented when none of *both' Features is being used by the User.

It's a basic service. We want to provide thumbnails also for add-ons. As of now every add-on and part of Firefox has their own way of capturing and storing thumbnails which is quite a PITA.

Comment 5

[dindog]

would you please explain why this mark as won't fix without proper explanation?

I just learn that users *have to create* this item themselves to disable this potential privacy violation feature.

browser.pagethumbnails.capturing_disabled

Comment 6

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

(In reply to dindog from comment #5)
> would you please explain why this mark as won't fix without proper
> explanation?

The explanation is in comment 4.

Comment 7

[dindog]

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [:dao] from comment #6)
> (In reply to dindog from comment #5)
> > would you please explain why this mark as won't fix without proper
> > explanation?
> 
> The explanation is in comment 4.

comment 4 said it will store less screenshot after Bug 754671, it don't see how it solves the issue I stated in the very beginning:

1. users don't know their browsing are capturing and saving in hard-disk

2. even they know of it, there should be a option, explicit one, to let them turn this service off.

Comment 8

[dindog]

correction:
comment 4 said it will store less screenshot after Bug 754671 is fixed, *I* don't see how it solves the issue I stated in the very beginning


The keyword of this bug is privacy from the beginning, let me take a example why this thumbnail service should be stop-able:

If you want to leave no history of a site, you can delete its history or just browse in private mode, but that is not the case when you go to site with access control, e.g. : your email account or a non-public forum. In fact, you want to keeping this in history or even in bookmark, because you know it's safe if you don't store the id & password in the browser.

That is true in the past, and all other browsers, but not the case when this service is on. I first notice this issue when my GMail screenshot was shown in the start-up page and I can't delete the thumbnail image solely.

That's why I think users should be informed aware and could be stopped in a easy way.

Comment 9

[Dão Gottwald [:dao]]

(In reply to dindog from comment #8)
> If you want to leave no history of a site, you can delete its history or
> just browse in private mode, but that is not the case when you go to site
> with access control, e.g. : your email account or a non-public forum. In
> fact, you want to keeping this in history or even in bookmark, because you
> know it's safe if you don't store the id & password in the browser.
> 
> That is true in the past, and all other browsers, but not the case when this
> service is on. I first notice this issue when my GMail screenshot was shown
> in the start-up page

that's bug 754608

Comment 10

[dindog]

(In reply to Dão Gottwald [:dao] from comment #9)
> that's bug 754608

not the same in my point of view, if you count on the http header and https protocol to decide whether saving the thumbnails , you can leave that to decide private mode, don't you? Apparently not, so why not let users choose?