Wow so I can upload my extension to firefox servers privately and without needing review process maybe ? and install it on all my device ? (via autosync I suppose?) Thats handy.

I have to reinstall my personal extension every time Firefox restarts. It's so annoying that I ended up writing an AutoHotKey script just to automate it (go to about:debugging#/runtime/this-firefox -> load temporary extension -> select manifest.json). Glad to see the announcement!

>but was put off by it having to be public or manually installed

Even prior to this there was an option to upload an extension to AMO for "private distribution". Mozilla will sign your extension so it installs without a fuss, but it won't be hosted on AMO. You can still host it on your personal website, or share the .xpi file though.

> 10 years too late. I'm never going back. These days I try to use my browser as vanilla as possible so I don't get my heart broken.

Pray tell, which usable browser do you believe provides better assurances than Firefox? Certainly it's not Chrome or Edge, is it?

By what standard is code signing DRM? Lots of stuff is codesigned.

Code signing doesn't stop redistribution of unmodified copies of software, and it allows for cryptographic attestation of its origin (when used properly). If you modify the software, you'll have to re-sign it and make sure your code's consumers trust that signature's chain of trust.

DRM prevents you from redistributing original media (with varying degrees of effectiveness) and doesn't do much for cryptographic attestation (nominally).

These are two very different systems for different purposes.

Yes and this actually is the same when you publish an app in the App Store.

Why do they need to change anything?

As far as I know a privacy policy has zero legal weight, that is, a company can put anything it wants into the privacy policy, it has no effect on what is actually done.

> We’ve updated Add-on policies for addons.mozilla.org (AMO).

Their policy doesn't apply to your computer. Only to developers that want to use Mozilla's infrastructure for distribution.

And it's their browser, which they have an interest in. If an extension goes rogue and gets in the news, that would be bad for a variety of reasons.

You're right that it's your computer, and you're free to change and recompile Firefox to do whatever you want, so I don't see what the issue is. The polices are for what extensions they allow on their store not what you can install on your computer. Last I knew, you could make your own extension and load it yourself with the store being involved at all. Go nuts.