[tor-bugs] #31575 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Firefox is phoning home during start-up in Tor Browser based on ESR 68

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#31575: Firefox is phoning home during start-up in Tor Browser based on ESR 68
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  gk                                   |          Owner:  tbb-
                                                 |  team
     Type:  defect                               |         Status:
                                                 |  needs_information
 Priority:  Medium                               |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/Tor Browser             |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                               |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  ff68-esr, tbb-9.0-must-alpha,        |  Actual Points:
  TorBrowserTeam201909R                          |
Parent ID:                                       |         Points:  1
 Reviewer:                                       |        Sponsor:
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Changes (by gk):

 * status:  needs_review => needs_information


Comment:

 Replying to [comment:3 acat]:
 > Patch for review in https://github.com/acatarineu/tor-
 browser/commits/31575 (two commits).
 >
 > I investigated a bit where these requests where coming from, and all are
 from the newtab ActivityStream. The first ones (containing cfr-fxa) are
 done in [https://searchfox.org/mozilla-
 esr68/rev/5c4a430c9101024114854f47926fdfacc5502294/browser/components/newtab/lib/ASRouter.jsm#238
 ASRouter.jsm], which calls [https://searchfox.org/mozilla-
 esr68/rev/5c4a430c9101024114854f47926fdfacc5502294/services/settings/RemoteSettingsClient.jsm#254
 RemoteSettingsClient.jsm] and that does a bunch of fetches to sync. The
 snippets ones are coming from [https://searchfox.org/mozilla-
 esr68/rev/5c4a430c9101024114854f47926fdfacc5502294/browser/components/newtab/lib/ASRouter.jsm#170
 ASRouter.jsm].
 >
 > There are a bunch of `browser.newtabpage.activity-stream.*` prefs that
 probably we could use to disable these, but I opted for the simple
 solution of just not loading the `AboutNewTab.jsm` at all. That means it's
 not possible anymore to change the newtab page, so I also removed that
 option from the UI in the patch.

 Hrm. I am not sure we should strip users from easily adjusting their new
 tab experience. Would we solve this bug by just flipping the prefs? I
 guess that would still fix #30846 as well? What about #30662?

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/31575#comment:5>
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