PIA extension for Firefox/Mozilla

tomeworm

I appreciate what PIA has done with the Chrome extension. It's got some nice features that I could use, particularly the Bypass List. So many sites these days ban vpns, such as banks, etc., and what a pain to have to remember to manually disconnect and then later reconnect when I'm done accessing my bank. 

However, in my estimation using Chrome and then thinking you're secure is misguided. I have good cause to be distrustful of all things Google, especially after dialoguing with former Google employees and discovering all the ways they data mine and share info with NSA. So I don't anticipate using Chrome very often.

Firefox is my go to browser. Is there any likelihood that PIA will be releasing a Firefox/Mozilla extension?

VPNTester

+1

emge

Doh, I swear I just searched for Firefox before making an identical post here. I'll delete mine, but I would also like to know if there are plans for a Firefox Add-on.

PIAAustin

Hey @tomeworm, 

I actually, just saw @emge's post as well. 

Thanks for reaching out! 

As of now, we do not have any plans to add a Firefox extension. 

I have, however, passed this suggestion along to our devs. 

I apologize for the inconvenience. 

tomeworm

@PIAAustin, I suggest you make some plans then, rather than just continuing to ignore customer requests, as PIA is so prone to do. You're going to lose customers, including me, over your foolish decision to develop a plugin for an unsafe black box browser (something even your company acknowledged is true of Chrome) rather than doing so for a secure open source browser.

Max-P

tomeworm said:

@PIAAustin, I suggest you make some plans then, rather than just continuing to ignore customer requests, as PIA is so prone to do. You're going to lose customers, including me, over your foolish decision to develop a plugin for an unsafe black box browser (something even your company acknowledged is true of Chrome) rather than doing so for a secure open source browser.

Chrome is not completely a black box. The vast majority of the browser is actually open source via the Chromium project, and it's possible to run without any Google service (although it does limit a lot what the browser does, but it works just fine).

I think the Chrome extension was mostly developed to cover the increasing demand for support for Chromebooks which can't really do VPN any other way without getting into developer mode and duct-taping a bunch of things together. With Firefox, you can always just use the much better system-wide VPN.

I do agree that a Firefox extension would be pretty nice to have tho, I was surprised when it was released that there wasn't a Firefox one planned. I tried making it work manually but Firefox doesn't let you specify proxy authentication credentials.

tomeworm

Max-P said:

tomeworm said:

@PIAAustin, I suggest you make some plans then, rather than just continuing to ignore customer requests, as PIA is so prone to do. You're going to lose customers, including me, over your foolish decision to develop a plugin for an unsafe black box browser (something even your company acknowledged is true of Chrome) rather than doing so for a secure open source browser.

Chrome is not completely a black box. The vast majority of the browser is actually open source via the Chromium project, and it's possible to run without any Google service (although it does limit a lot what the browser does, but it works just fine).

Chrome may have originated out of Chromium, but that's irrelevant. Chrome itself is now far removed from open source. I'll rely on the opinions of the numerous industry experts that have warned that Chrome is a "black box" and using it comes with many risks, including Google's own history of using Chrome to spy on users. Please don't try and be an apologist for PIA's poor decision. Why not instead be your customers' advocate and push your employer to do the right thing for us?

Omnibus_IV

[Deleted User]

@tomeworm This is an issue that hits me close as I wouldn't trust Chrome to wash my socks without extracting DNA from them and conducting a genome scan to predict my potential for heart disease to sell me heart disease medication.

I think the issue is development overload and it's something that is being solved at the moment. It's hard to support anything-and-everything of course, but I'd agree with you that Firefox should have been priority #1 over Chrome for idealogy alone (we're promoting freedom and privacy here, something Google/Chrome are financially incentivized to circumvent).

Whether or not PIA officially says it isn't working on something, believe you me that it's something I will never let up on either so long as I work at PIA.

As for timing, since Firefox Quantum came out, it's a good thing we *didn't* make a plugin already or it would have been broken and blasted with support tickets! No excuse now though. Hang tight.

OpenVPN

Max-P said:

tomeworm said:

@PIAAustin, I suggest you make some plans then, rather than just continuing to ignore customer requests, as PIA is so prone to do. You're going to lose customers, including me, over your foolish decision to develop a plugin for an unsafe black box browser (something even your company acknowledged is true of Chrome) rather than doing so for a secure open source browser.

Chrome is not completely a black box. The vast majority of the browser is actually open source via the Chromium project, and it's possible to run without any Google service (although it does limit a lot what the browser does, but it works just fine).

I think the Chrome extension was mostly developed to cover the increasing demand for support for Chromebooks which can't really do VPN any other way without getting into developer mode and duct-taping a bunch of things together. With Firefox, you can always just use the much better system-wide VPN.

I do agree that a Firefox extension would be pretty nice to have tho, I was surprised when it was released that there wasn't a Firefox one planned. I tried making it work manually but Firefox doesn't let you specify proxy authentication credentials.

sn0wmonster said:

@tomeworm This is an issue that hits me close as I wouldn't trust Chrome to wash my socks without extracting DNA from them and conducting a genome scan to predict my potential for heart disease to sell me heart disease medication.

I think the issue is development overload and it's something that is being solved at the moment. It's hard to support anything-and-everything of course, but I'd agree with you that Firefox should have been priority #1 over Chrome for idealogy alone (we're promoting freedom and privacy here, something Google/Chrome are financially incentivized to circumvent).

Whether or not PIA officially says it isn't working on something, believe you me that it's something I will never let up on either so long as I work at PIA.

As for timing, since Firefox Quantum came out, it's a good thing we *didn't* make a plugin already or it would have been broken and blasted with support tickets! No excuse now though. Hang tight.

I second a request for a Firefox extension but I also would like to see the chrome extension updated to use the newly released TLS 1.3 (If possible.) 

Ishtarr

While it is easy to circumvent the lack of proxy authentication in Firefox (with FoxyProxy, for example), connection through it tends to go down a lot, so I would much prefer to have an official browser extension. There's an app for Android devices and even Chrome extension, so I see no reason why the developers are unable to extend their support towards Firefox. Surely, there's enough users, who much prefer to use this particular browser.

p6749995

Another option: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/proxy-toggle/

[Deleted User]

@tomeworm Just a note, for Linux users who want a proxy solution, I recommend using proxychains instead of trusting any browser's plugins.

Proxychains is like Torsocks or "proxyify", and it forces all traffic over the proxychains configured tunnel, which can include multiple hops (including over Tor + proxy).

p8001513

I have to agree. The Lack of support for addons for Firefox, Amazon Fire Stick, and others; combine with the low speed is a deal breaker. I am with others in not renewing my annual sub.