Following the release of Firefox 32, Mozilla made it clear that the browser-maker itself would take up the task of checking the file downloads for malicious programs against Google’s application reputation database (a mechanism that would compare files you download against the lists of malicious files listed in Google database, and blocking them from infecting your system) powering Chrome‘s Safe Browsing feature since 2012.
This move from Mozilla left many Firefox users worried about the privacy implications of the feature. As such, the browser-maker was compelled to leave users with the choice of disabling Firefox from sending downloaded file information to Google.
When you download an application file, Firefox verifies its signature. If it is signed, Firefox compares the signature with a list of known safe publishers. For files that are not identified by the lists as “safe” (allowed) or as “malware” (blocked), Firefox asks Google’s Safe Browsing service if the software is safe by sending it some of the download’s metadata.
Stop Firefox from sending Data to GoogleIf you are interested in preventing Firefox from sending downloaded file information to Google, follow these steps. The steps are intended to change a value inside Firefox configuration settings, thereby preventing Firefox from sending downloaded file information to Google.
Here’s how to Start. This tutorial assumes that you are using Firefox version 31 or above.
Open Firefox browser and type about:config into the address bar and press the Enter button.
Next, when the browser displays a warning message, ignore it and press the “I’ll be careful, I promise!” button to continue.
Now in the search bar, type
browser.safebrowsing.appRepURL. This will show up a preference name or string with a Google URL in its value.
Just double click on that string to open the “Edit string value” window. Now, delete the entire URL and click on the OK button. The action will save the changes.
Once done, the string should look like the screenshot shown below.
That’s it!
You have successfully disabled Firefox from sending downloaded file information to Google.
Another method relies on the procedure of disabling the “Safe browsing” feature completely – but doing this is not recommended.
twc
