Reviews for Knockoff - Amazon Brand Filter
Knockoff - Amazon Brand Filter by Ordinary Systems
39 reviews
- Rated 1 out of 5by LeadR, 26 minutes ago
- Rated 4 out of 5by Laurazepam, 4 hours agoWould recommend, but it needs more work. The knockoff brand name recognition isn't perfect (especially for non-English brand names), but they are actively improving it. The privacy policy seems absolutely sensible to me. Yeah some things are technically private browsing data, but how else would this work? Would feel better about it if it was opensource tho. Is there really a good reason for a browser extension to not be opensource nowadays? Still, it's a useful tool.
Developer response
posted 2 hours agoThanks for the feedback! Definitely pushing out updates every day to improve the brand name recognition.
A number of the ways we make the recognition more accurate is by sending some on-page data about the seller to our servers (where we've got a MUCH larger database than can be realistically bundled with a browser extension). That's what those additional browser permissions enable.
Definitely keep the feedback coming. If you notice any funny business just hit the "Send Feedback" button in the extension and I'll dig into it! - Rated 1 out of 5by quikket, 6 hours agoIst verkommen zu
- invasiven Berechtigungsanfragen
- Injektion von Werbung (s. Website unter "advertise")
- Closed Source ...
Schade, war anfangs wirklich gut. - Rated 1 out of 5by MedPlex, 18 hours agoAnfangs alles top aber mit jedem Update kamen Datenabfragen und Zugriffsanfragen dazu...
- Rated 2 out of 5by Firefox user 18024622, 2 days ago"Data Collection
The developer says this extension doesn’t require data collection."
The happy days, not long ago. Thank goodness the updates weren't automatic.
Giving it 2 stars because you can't give zero stars to extensions on Mozilla and this one deserves at least one star for the V0.5.0 that (I believe) doesn't collect data.
I am only a whisker away from dumping what has become a bait-and-switch, closed source, snoop fest, and take my chances with Amazon.
EDIT: Pardon, I think I'm still on 0.1.0. I never gave it permission to follow my browser activity. - Rated 1 out of 5by cgd81, 2 days agoAdding telemetry and additional functionality that require a server -- fine. I can make my own decision about whether to continue using the extension.
Making the project closed source so that no one can check what code is running with increased permissions in their browser -- insane.
Even worse is the developer's response to legitimate criticism. Calling users "entitled" because they care about privacy, security, transparency, and the software they allow to run in their browsers shows an astonishing level of contempt for the people whose trust this extension depends on. Nobody is entitled to the developer's unpaid labour, but users are absolutely entitled to question new data collection, increased permissions, and the decision to hide previously public source code.
Pointing users to an FAQ and privacy policy is not a substitute for publishing the source code. Those pages contain claims written by the developer; open-source code gives independent researchers and technically capable users a way to verify whether those claims match what the extension actually does. Treating the two as though they provide comparable transparency is deeply condescending, especially when the concern being raised is precisely that users can no longer inspect the maintained code for themselves. "Trust me, I explained it on my website" is not the same thing as allowing that trust to be verified.
A browser extension, especially one with broad access to data on Amazon pages, is an extremely sensitive piece of software. When a developer responds to reasonable security concerns with mockery instead of clear technical answers, that tells me everything I need to know.
I no longer trust this extension, and I cannot recommend installing or updating it. I hope the developer reconsiders both the decision to stop publishing the project's source code and the dismissive way legitimate feedback has been handled. - Rated 5 out of 5by johnnyp, 2 days agoone of the of the most useful tools ive seen created for the average consumer. amazing work.
- Rated 5 out of 5by WA, 3 days agoThis is an extremely helpful extension, I can't believe how much better this makes Amazon shopping.
- Rated 4 out of 5by Salix223, 4 days ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by Equinox0, 4 days agoWent closed source, suddenly the addon is requesting more permissions with every update and now wants browsing data. Not to be trusted.
Developer response
posted 3 days agoI know lots of extensions have made terrible decisions and taken advantage of folks, but that's not this. You can read all about what permissions are needed here and why.
https://knockoff.co/faq
https://knockoff.co/privacy
If you have specific questions about anything, please email me: josh@knockoff.co
Apps change. They add functionality (user-requested, by the way). And for better or worse, Firefox has *very* generalized categories for these types of permissions that generally make them sound much more heavy-handed than they really are.
But again, lots of folks feel burned by extensions, so I get the sentiment. No rug pull here, just a product that's growing. 🤗 - Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 12154263, 4 days agoenforces a "shop for US alternatives" button even though i turned it off in setttings as it's not relevant for me. uninstalled.
Developer response
posted 4 days agoIt's a bug! Found the problem and pushing out the fix for it hopefully in the next hour or so. - Rated 2 out of 5by ThingsThatAreWhoo, 4 days agoNeat idea and decent execution.
Unfortunately, the developer decided to add new features (one of them mostly useless to people who are not based in the US) that require data collection, marked as browsing activity and website content. These features are on by default, and while they might be harmless in themselves, this kinda kills the canary. The extension does not appear to be open source, yet has a strong media presence and pretty website. Perfect breeding ground for some party to buy it and turn it into something sinister, piggybacking on a huge install base.
I am not saying that's the developer's intention, but it leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth.
Edit: Correction, older versions are indeed open source. Thanks for reply. The fact however that they are not anymore is an oddity at best.Developer response
posted 4 days agoSorry the extension is no longer a fit for you. More info on why "browsing activity" and "website content" are necessary is covered here: https://knockoff.co/privacy
Any decision I make will be a positive for some a negative for others. Such is the nature of creating things. The code for the earlier versions *is* very much open source and you're more than welcome to download, use, fork, etc: https://github.com/Shpigford/knockoff - Rated 2 out of 5by Firefox user 16970550, 5 days ago
- Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 20038783, 5 days agoExplain why you need this? Has been working fine without. "Required data collection, according to the developer:
Browsing activity
Website content"Developer response
posted 5 days agoFair. 0.8.0 suggests US-based alternatives to a product, so it sends the products you open (ASIN, title, brand, seller). A second feature sends seller IDs to show where a seller is based.
Both are on by default, both switch off in options, and filtering works without either. Stored is a per-product view counter: no IP, no account, no searches.
Unfortunately, Firefox only offers fixed permission labels, and none are narrower than that. - Rated 3 out of 5by Firefox user 20036283, 6 days agoBe very careful. This extension seemed like a great idea and I started happily using it in large part because the developer stated that "Everything runs locally in your browser. No accounts, no analytics, no tracking. The only network request is a daily brand-list refresh." However, in the last update the extension now requires a new permission to "collect website content." No information about the purpose of the data collection or the specific data being collected is provided.
Mozilla does provides a link to “Learn More” about the new permission being granted. Their definition of the term ‘website content’ takes a bit of work to find but it seems to be “covers anything visible on a website — such as text, images, videos, and links — and anything embedded, such as cookies, audio, page headers, and request and response information.”
This may or may not be okay. I’m not sure but I am certainly not taking the update until the developer provides more clarity on the purpose of this new permission and what data the extension can and can not collect (e.g., my user name and password, email address, etc.). In any case, the fact that an update was issued with this new permission required with no explanation is very problematic.
Update: the developer's response seems reasonable, but I still would have much preferred if he had left the data collection effort out of the extension entirely. It does not add that much and it certainly provides an opportunity for an unscrupulous individual or entity to obtain valuable user information at any time in the future. So unfortunately, I am going to delete what would have been a very valuable and useful extension. A decision to make it safe again would bring me right back.Developer response
posted 5 days agoSorry about the lack of clarity! Firefox doesn't really provide a great way to surface "why" around a change in permissions (at least not one that doesn't require you to go digging through buried extension changelogs). At any rate.
You're right. That quote is mine, from the 0.1.0 notes. It was true then, but it isn't now, and shipping the change without telling you is my mistake.
0.7.0 and 0.8.0 added two features, both on by default, both switchable off in options:
1. "Seller country" sends seller IDs to show where a seller is based.
2. "Help pick US alternatives" sends the ASIN, title, brand, and seller ID of product pages you open.
To your question: no, it cannot see your username, password, or email. It reads a few specific product elements and sends only those fields. Never form inputs, cookies, searches, or orders. Server-side it's one row per product with a view counter. No IP, session, or account stored beside it.
The labels are Firefox's fixed vocabulary. There's no bucket for "just the product page you're on," so I declared the honest maximum rather than under-declare. Mozilla's definition describes the category ceiling, not what Knockoff does.
Working on updating our Firefox listing now to clarify this.
Thanks for the feedback! - Rated 1 out of 5by Firefox user 20035832, 6 days ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Andrew G Lucas, 7 days ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by Mr Leaf, 7 days ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by davidohara, 8 days agoMandatory for using Amazon.
God bless the developers.
I cannot use Amazon without using this. - Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 14665809, 9 days agoWorks as described. I was looking for an OEM item in Amazon the other day. The results even with a brand name were so full of knockoffs that I thought they didn't carry what I was looking for. Surprise, they do sell it and only because I used the plugin was I able to find what I was looking for. Thanks!
- Rated 5 out of 5by RN, 9 days agoYou are doing God's work. Absolute kudos, I'm gonna go look and see if I can sponsor you on GitHub.
- Rated 5 out of 5by qwertzu, 9 days agoworks well, I wish it would expand to other platforms than Amazon
- Rated 5 out of 5by riot, 10 days agoMan. We used to get addons/extensions like this back in the day all of the damn time. What a simple idea executed to perfection. Love the ability to hide or dim. Now if Amazon brought back the ability to comment on peoples reviews that'd be great.
- Rated 5 out of 5by Firefox user 19659081, 10 days ago
- Rated 5 out of 5by d1nd141, 10 days ago