Simple Tag Groups extension: security and privacy concerns surrounding its permission requests.
Hi all,
I have a question regarding the permission requests of the Simple Tab Groups extension by Drive4ik.
As I'm sure many of you know, this extension needs to: This add-on needs to:
- Download files and read and modify the browser’s download history
- Monitor extension usage and manage themes
- Display notifications to you
- Access recently closed tabs
- Hide and show browser tabs
- Access browser tabs
- Store unlimited amount of client-side data
- Access your data for all websites
This add-on may also ask to: Read and modify bookmarks
Theoretically, I find this extension useful but I am concerned about the "Access your data for all websites" requirement. I read through Mozilla's permission request messages for Firefox extensions documentation and it seems like granting this extension these permissions would be a huge risk for the work I do– investigative journalism. It seems like I'll trade organizational benefits for a wider attack surface.
Can anyone speak more about the risks involved with using this extension, the trustworthiness of the developer, and why it needs the "Access your data for all websites" capability?
Thank you.
Chosen solution
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said
Hi, the Simple Tab Groups extension is marked as "Recommended." Extensions in the Recommended program receive the highest level of security and privacy review, as described in the following article: Recommended Extensions program You may wonder why extensions require high permission levels, and this varies depending on what they do. Generally speaking a tab manager that only pays attention to page titles and URLs only need the Tabs permission. But the author wanted to display thumbnails of the tabs (mentioned on the listing on the Add-ons site), which requires permission to access the page content. Some authors would choose to make that feature optional, so the permission could be optional, but I guess the author in this case didn't think it made sense to do that. More general articles on extension permissions:
Thank you for the extensive and sensible reply!
Read this answer in context 👍 0All Replies (6)
Unfortunately this forum help for Firefox Browser. Any issues related to Addons/Extensions are to request help or information from the Addon developer to answer their questions.
markwarner22 said
Unfortunately this forum help for Firefox Browser. Any issues related to Addons/Extensions are to request help or information from the Addon developer to answer their questions.
Are you saying that Mozilla will offer no support on whether or not they deem this add-on safe?
This forum is for the browser help and users here stay away from Political nature discussions. If you have issues you should post it on the Addon review for others to reply back their experiences using it.
markwarner22 said
This forum is for the browser help and users here stay away from Political nature discussions. If you have issues you should post it on the Addon review for others to reply back their experiences using it.
Lol... how is an inquiry into the mechanics of an extension "Political"?
Hi, the Simple Tab Groups extension is marked as "Recommended." Extensions in the Recommended program receive the highest level of security and privacy review, as described in the following article:
Recommended Extensions program
You may wonder why extensions require high permission levels, and this varies depending on what they do. Generally speaking a tab manager that only pays attention to page titles and URLs only need the Tabs permission. But the author wanted to display thumbnails of the tabs (mentioned on the listing on the Add-ons site), which requires permission to access the page content. Some authors would choose to make that feature optional, so the permission could be optional, but I guess the author in this case didn't think it made sense to do that.
More general articles on extension permissions:
Chosen Solution
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer said
Hi, the Simple Tab Groups extension is marked as "Recommended." Extensions in the Recommended program receive the highest level of security and privacy review, as described in the following article: Recommended Extensions program You may wonder why extensions require high permission levels, and this varies depending on what they do. Generally speaking a tab manager that only pays attention to page titles and URLs only need the Tabs permission. But the author wanted to display thumbnails of the tabs (mentioned on the listing on the Add-ons site), which requires permission to access the page content. Some authors would choose to make that feature optional, so the permission could be optional, but I guess the author in this case didn't think it made sense to do that. More general articles on extension permissions:
Thank you for the extensive and sensible reply!
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