Firefox sends file download data to google

Firefox sends downloaded file information to Google.

How to disable if you have any concerns:

Prevent Firefox from sending downloaded file info to Google

Also affects Firefox variants.

Thanks for the heads up,
Seems Firefox has made a deal with the devil :)

ThrashZone said:

Thanks for the heads up,
Seems Firefox has made a deal with the devil :)

Yes it is very horrible that downloads are being scanned for threats. Whew, call the cops.

Google in conjunction with https://www.stopbadware.org/ tries to identify malware out there on the web and report on it-preventing users from downloading bad stuff in the first place. Mozilla recently became more of a involved partner, it just happens that Google is a major partner in it. Check out there website for info.

And you use internet explorer, so smartscreen filter does the same thing....

I use the manual check instead for Google's Safe browsing before I start using a new site, to get some malware history for the site etc. Use this URL: http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site= (and add the site after the =)

Example: Google Safe Browsing diagnostic page for majorgeeks.com

Well apparently it can cause problems by blocking some legitimate downloads:

RESOLVED - Firefox v31 - New Malware idea is BAD ? mozillaZine Forums

Personally I've disabled the feature but kept safe browsing enabled. I'm one of those people who strives to keep as much of my data as possible away from Google although I do use their email and Google Docs services.

I'd agree that for most users it's a decent enough additional security feature that's been added to Firefox but I would rather rely on other methods in order to determine if a site is safe to visit and block connection to known bad sites or file downloads.

Google knows nothing about privacy so it's safety features are just another way to poke a nose where it doesn't belong to sell what it can in the name of safety

Why anyone would want to turn that off makes no sense to me, but to each his own.

I followed the instructions as shown in the article and the parameter browser.safebrowsing.appRepURL does not exist.
If this was in the Nightly builds, it appears on the surface that the regular release does not have this parameter.

ThrashZone said:

Google knows nothing about privacy so it's safety features are just another way to poke a nose where it doesn't belong to sell what it can in the name of safety

Do you use virustotal? same thing. Google owns that. Looks like you should not use that too.