Addon blocked by mozilla "Mining Blocker"

Add-ons addons.mozilla.org
#1

Hello!

I just registered here so I can ask why was an extension, “Mining Blocker” disabled by Mozilla? I followed the links provided and I arrived here.

https://blocked.cdn.mozilla.net/be96c9a1-0b01-468e-ac9b-761ba3587162.html
The block page.


The bugzilla link.

The block was issued February 9th, but I only discovered it today when I reviewed my installed extensions. My understanding of webextensions is that they should function much better and for a longer period before showing any sort of issues, the reason given for the block is “abusive or malicious code”.

The extension was licensed under GPLv3. I only install free software extensions, because I know there are malicious extensions out there, unless the license was changed to a nonfree license and it included malware like behavior, I see no legitimate reason for the block.

I know Mozilla is working on an anti-mining feature themselves but that can’t be the reason for the block since there are other similar extensions still on AMO.

And it was one of the best anti-miner extensions too, it had a “heuristics” feature, it scanned for active mining code in addition to having a block list.

There was a webpage where the extension was hosted, but since it’s now disabled I can’t find it, it would be nice to contact the extension developer on what’s going on.

I would like to know why this block was issued, thanks!

#2

The bug says the extensions are blocked due to remote script injection. To determine if and how that applies to the extension in question, one would have to inspect the bundled package.

In general, licenses will not protect you from developers doing bad things. They lower the chance. But if a developer is willing to breach your privacy, security and the AMO terms, they are likely also willing to lie about their license.

Lastly, Mozilla can not tell you why exactly an extension was removed to AMO due to the agreement they have with the developers. If the developer wants to come out and state why their extension was blocked/delisted, that is fine, however it is unlikely for Mozilla to be able to publicly state why exactly they blocked a particular extension.

From a quick search it also seems that all traces of the extension have vanished, including a website or source code repository.

#3

Thanks for the reply.

It’s very strange that the extension would just vanish like that. There was just an update to it recently as well, I think it reached version 1.0 in January I think. I found the extension through an article, if I only I would find it. It was a tutorial about how to block cryptojacking in your web browser. I don’t store history in my browser, I can’t go back.

Looks like we just have to trust Mozilla’s judgment on this issue.