[Bug 1357655] [NEW] Privacy violation: firefox connects to Google on startup

[Dieter Maurer]

Public bug reported:

A freshly started "firefox" with all extensions disabled, the flash
plugin enabled and all other plugins either disabled or in mode "ask
before enabling", makes connections to some (not directly recognizable)
Google IP addresses.

At first, it used IP addresses from "173.194.71.0/24" (the famous Google "1E100" net). After banning this range with firewall rules, it switched to addresses from "173.194.116.0/24" (IP addresses with no official host name). Only
experts can see that those IP adresses are in fact Google adresses - which makes the connections the more suspicious.

I have read that the Google browser makes hidden connections to Google on startup - and I use a non Google product
("firefox") to avoid this potential privacy violation. I am horrified, that "firefox", too, connects to Google on startup and reveals to Google unspecified information about my environment.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: firefox 31.0+build1-0ubuntu0.12.04.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-67.101-generic-pae 3.2.60
Uname: Linux 3.2.0-67-generic-pae i686
AddonCompatCheckDisabled: False
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.6
Architecture: i386
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: NVidia [HDA NVidia], device 0: VT1705 Analog [VT1705 Analog]
   Subdevices: 2/2
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
   Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0:  dieter     2106 F.... pulseaudio
BuildID: 20140715215148
CRDA: Error: command ['iw', 'reg', 'get'] failed with exit code 1: nl80211 not found.
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'NVidia'/'HDA NVidia at 0xfbff8000 irq 21'
   Mixer name	: 'VIA VT1705'
   Components	: 'HDA:11064397,18490397,00100000'
   Controls      : 36
   Simple ctrls  : 19
Channel: Unavailable
Date: Sat Aug 16 08:17:47 2014
ForcedLayersAccel: False
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
IncompatibleExtensions:
 English (GB) Language Pack - langpack-en-GB at firefox.mozilla.org
 English (South Africa) Language Pack - langpack-en-ZA at firefox.mozilla.org
 Deutsch (DE) Language Pack - langpack-de at firefox.mozilla.org
 Default - {972ce4c6-7e08-4474-a285-3208198ce6fd}
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386 (20120817.3)
IpRoute:
 default via 192.168.178.1 dev eth0  proto static 
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0  scope link  metric 1000 
 192.168.178.0/24 dev eth0  proto kernel  scope link  src 192.168.178.24  metric 1
IwConfig:
 lo        no wireless extensions.
 
 eth0      no wireless extensions.
MarkForUpload: True
MostRecentCrashID: bp-df427f4f-f78c-4108-a3f9-598f72120116
PciNetwork:
 
PrefSources: prefs.js
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=de_DE:en
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
Profiles: Profile0 (Default) - LastVersion=31.0/20140715215148 (In use)
RelatedPackageVersions:
 rhythmbox-mozilla 2.96-0ubuntu4.3
 totem-mozilla     3.0.1-0ubuntu21.1
RfKill:
 
RunningIncompatibleAddons: True
SourcePackage: firefox
SubmittedCrashIDs:
 bp-df427f4f-f78c-4108-a3f9-598f72120116
 bp-3f573286-0421-4078-99d9-5858f2120109
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 05/27/2010
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: P1.30
dmi.board.name: N68-S3 UCC
dmi.board.vendor: ASRock
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrP1.30:bd05/27/2010:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASRock:rnN68-S3UCC:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.name: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.

** Affects: firefox (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: apport-bug i386 precise running-unity

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Title:
  Privacy violation: firefox connects to Google on startup

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