Re: How does GMail know I use Firebug extension in Iceweasel?

Ron Johnson wrote:

On 11/28/07 18:17, Raj Kiran Grandhi wrote:
Recently gmail has begun displaying the following notice when I login to
its web interface:

"Firebug is known to make Gmail slow unless it is configured correctly."

It offers a couple of option to disable/configure it. However what I
find disturbing is how gmail 'knows' what extensions I have installed on
my machine. Is there a bug in iceweasel/firefox that leaks out some
information on extensions to the remote servers?

JavaScript?

I do use the javascript version gmail instead of the plain html one. However it is a surprise to me that remote sites are able to figure out what extensions I have installed using javascript. Does that not have privacy implications? Disabling javascript renders most sites pretty useless. I have played around with noscript for a couple of months before turning it off.

Extensions like webdeveloper and firebug are very useful in working around some of those "user friendly" features of some websites (like disabling the text entry field, so that users can enjoy the non-cross-platform shiny calender widget to enter a date)

Websites basing their content (and bugs) based on the user-agent is bad enough as it is. Add extensions to that list and it makes me want to weep :(

Is there some way to keep javascript enabled while limiting the amount of information the remote site can "see"?

--
Raj Kiran Grandhi


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