Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mozilla says no!

When the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the USA began to hijack domains, they failed to consider that the internet is a distributed network. Nor did they realize that their colleagues in the military R & D designed it to withstand the drop of multiple nodes and further disseminate information.

Acting as a good distributed network shortly after the domains hijacking, it appeared a little utility that redirected traffic from the hijacked domain to another, just like a routing mail service. On the internet, no node "knows" nothing more than who its neighbor is, to the one it sends the information. Sooner or later, and after a few turns, the information reaches its destination. This is exactly what the MafiaaFire Redirector add-on does.

But obviously, the DHS did not like that, who have shown to have little knowledge of the technical operation of the network, and how a hijacked domain is so easy to bypass. So the Department asked Mozilla to withdraw the add-on. Without further ado.

Obviusly, Mozilla made it clear to them that they are law-abiding, therefore will only take action if they get an order from a judge. For that reason, they returned the request for withdrawal with a letter asking the DHS a few things:
  • Have any courts determined that the Mafiaafire add-on is unlawful or illegal in any way? If so, on what basis? (Please provide any relevant rulings)
  • Is Mozilla legally obligated to disable the add-on or is this request based on other reasons? If other reasons, can you please specify.
  • Can you please provide a copy of the relevant seizure order upon which your request to Mozilla to take down the Mafiaafire  add-on is based?
As expected, Mozilla is still waiting for their answer. This is another case of an attempt of self-censorship by the application of fear. First is instilled in everyone that certain activities could constitute a crime, and then it is only needed a burly and menace-looking guy to stand in front of you and ask, without more, to self-censure it. 

If a random person does this, it is extortion. But if the security departments or any of their cronies do, it is a 100% legal activity intended to protect someone or something. Who? Usually a very small part of society. Legal mechanisms acting as private security guards for four companies...

I love Firefox. 

18 comments:

  1. I have to agree with you. Firefox is just awesome :)

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  2. I'm more of a chrome person myself.

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  3. Good for firefox, standing up to the man!

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  4. I'm actually surprised about this, but it's good that Firefox is standing up for themselves and us also.

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  5. It would be all too easy for Firefox to roll over and take it, but I'm glad they're sticking to their roots and not letting themselves be pushed around.

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  6. that is an awesome picture :D

    berlinrules.blogspot.com

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  7. at least they aren't letting themselves being pushed around

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  8. Great article. Good on Mozilla!.

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  9. thats good DHS didnt get their way.

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  10. Another battle of the Great Cyberwar...

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  11. Yey FireFox! fight the power, fight the man.

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  12. you had this serious discussion, then i see the pic at the bottom and get a good laugh. great post :D

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  13. i use chrome, but i don't really think about browsers too much i guess

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  14. Love your blog style! keep up your excellent blogging!

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  15. I love FireFox too :)

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