I’d like to discuss two issues in this topic. The first one concerns reviews (the rating of add-ons by users, not the add-on review process). I’ve recently seen quite a lot of fake (possibly paid-for) reviews. They are pretty easy to spot, since they mostly contain nothing but marketing speak. Apart from that they have other things in common:
- 5 star review (obviously)
- The account was created on the same day the review was written
- The account doesn’t create reviews for other add-ons
Every review which satisfies these characteristics is suspicious. Admittedly, a legitimate review can match these criteria as well, but I’m still wondering whether there is any process in place to cut down on the fake reviews?
One example of fake reviews I’ve found is the add-on “Amazon Assistant for Firefox”. It’s an especially problematic case because it seems like the fake reviews are supposed to offset negative reviews due to privacy concerns. This brings me to my second point.
The conditions of use grant the software rights to monitor user behavior in the browser to the extent that you can consider it spyware.
From AMAZON ASSISTANT CONDITIONS OF USE:
The Amazon Assistant may also collect information about the websites you view when you are not interacting with the Amazon Assistant […]
[…] information we collect and analyze include a subset of your IP address; a domain name or full URL of the Web page you are visiting and any referring URL’s to the visited web page; general information about the visited web page, such as product search query or specifications; general information about your browser; general information about your computer’s operating system; other identifying alphanumerical information enabling Amazon to identify your computer; and the date and time the above information is logged.
With this in mind I find it concerning that Mozilla chooses to promote this extension on the Add-ons front page:
It is hypocritical to introduce features like Tracking Protection to Firefox when at the same time you promote an add-on which allows Amazon to completely track a user’s browsing behavior.