The search is on!

Mozillians
#1

Hey Mozillians,

The Dark Funnel campaign starts now! Grab your detective hat and your magnifying glass and open your browser…

STEP 1: Search the web

Use different combinations of keywords (you can search in your own language!) to find non-Mozilla sites that say they will let you download Firefox.

STEP 2: Find “unofficial” Firefox Downloads

Investigate these websites to find “unofficial Firefox download” buttons (links that don’t redirect to www.mozilla.org or subdomains).

STEP 3: Report them

Document those sites, how you found them, and what you found, using this form.

Still not sure about the steps? Check this easy tutorial

Keep rockin’ the open web!

1 Like
#2

some feedback, how the form could be extended/improved:
sometimes I felt, like I wanted to add a comment, so maybe a comment field could be added.

should I check the old versions checkbox, when the newest versions and older versions are both available?

one time I wasn’t able to provide a direct link to the binary/download, because it was hidden behind Javascript and a form. (the url was probably in the Javascript of the page and firefox on android doesn’t allow me to copy the original source/url of a download on the downloads page (unlike desktop Firefox))
I used the url field to comment then and explain it (in a url format, so it wouldn’t complain ^^)

what about sites that ask you to login into facebook/Google etc. and link your accounts for a download? (/give permissions for something)
I checked the money checkbox, when I saw this happening, because none of the others fit.

should I check the old logo checkbox, when both logos are present on the page? (old and new) (in screenshots, etc.)

Regards
Djfe

EDIT:
What about pages, where I don’t know whether it’s an old version or not?
I could check it later on desktop of course, but on Android it’s not possible.

#3

is http://www.firefox.com.cn/download/ and official Mozilla page?

#4

Thanks @Djfe replying to your questions:

I would say yes since the users are exposed to those. Or if you want to be more precise you can have one report with the old one (adding it’s old version) and another one without that box checked

that was a good call thanks for doing that, since I can filter the issues that are coming from your side, I will add a comment on your behalf

yes since the user is exposed to both

if you can’t see I would say do not mark the old version button

#5

that’s a great question :slight_smile:
I asked and apparently it is Mozilla’s China’s local distribution so it is an official Mozilla page. However, we are still looking if it is attributed or not. For that reason I would suggest that you report it and we can filter it out later.

#6

what exactly do you mean by attributed?

I haven’t reported the Chinese page, yet, because it only links to the official Firefox download page.

are we supposed to also enter pages that link to the official download pages (Only)?

we aren’t supposed to enter 32bit and 64bit and portable separately, right?

only if it’s an older version and the other is a current one, right?

what about news pages that directly offer download links to older Firefox versions, when they are reporting on that update?
it could take a lot of time to report every single binary and url, isn’t the domain enough?

#7

This means that download from this site are counted within the download funnel. If a site is attributed it does not count as the Dark Funnel.

Not sure I understand your statement. The download button links to https://download-ssl.firefox.com.cn/releases/firefox/62.0/zh-CN/Firefox-latest.dmg

This is not mozilla.org. Curious to hear what @couci will find out about attribution.

#8

strange, maybe I got it mixed up with another domain or I clicked on a different link/button on the page, because I remember being redirected to Mozilla.org

I found a few domains that just redirect to mozilla.org:
https://mozilla.com/
http://www.getfirefox.net/
https://firefox.com/
http://www.mozillafirefox.us/

Does Mozilla own these or not?

#9

What I’ve got is that while we are aware of those and they have a distribution_id we can identify we apparently don’t have attribution out of it. So I would suggest to still report it.

#10

as long as they redirect to mozilla.org then no report is needed

#11

Wow, I’m having an “I feel old” moment. :grinning:
mozilla.com and firefox.com are most certainly owned by Mozilla. As a matter of fact, mozilla.com was the home of Firefox for several years, separate from mozilla.org (com=Corporation, org=Foundation).
See https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mozilla.com

There’s a pretty good list of domains at the following page: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Websites/Domain_List

1 Like
#12

the snippets on duckduckgo of these two are old, that’s why I also asked if anyone knows whom they belong to.
one names an old version

Screenshot_20180920-222001__01
Screenshot_20180920-222001__01.png1080×212 17 KB

the other one has a spelling mistake of Mozilla ^^

Screenshot_20180920-221955__01
Screenshot_20180920-221955__01.png1080×216 16.8 KB

they aren’t in the table in the wiki entry, that was linked above