Firefox: Google Chrome Frame poses a security risk to users

Firefox backer Mozilla has joined Microsoft in criticising Google's Chrome Frame.

Chrome Frame is a plug-in that puts Google's browser engine under the hood of Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and Google argues it can modernise IE versions 6, 7, and 8 with faster page loading and JavaScript performance. It kicks in only on web pages that web developers have labelled with a specific tag.

After Google announced it, Microsoft criticised it as creating a potentially increased risk to browsing security.

Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering for Mozilla, published a different concern in a blog post Monday night.

"I certainly share that longing for a web in which the vast majority of web users enjoy the performance and capabilities we see in Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Opera. Unfortunately, I don't think that Chrome Frame gets us closer to that web," Shaver said.

Firefox says Chrome Frame is not the answer (photo credit: Google)

Specifically, Shaver said Chrome Frame can disable IE features and confuse users' understanding of web security matters. And users of the IE 6 browser, he added, often won't be able to run Chrome Frame anyway because their computer is locked down to prohibit changes or lacks sufficient power in the first place.

"As a side effect, the user's understanding of the web's security model and the behaviour of their browser is seriously hindered by delegating the choice of software to the developers of individual sites they visit. It is a problem that we have seen repeatedly with other stack plug-ins like Flash, Silverlight and Java, and not one that I think we need to see replayed again under the banner of HTML5," he said.

Shaver's advice is to rely on the age-old technique: an upgrade suggestion on the website.

"It would be better for the web if developers who want to use the Chrome Frame snippet simply told users that their site worked better in Chrome and instructed them on how to install it," Shaver said. "The user would be educated about the benefits of an alternate browser, would understand better the choice they were making, and the kudos for Chrome's performance would accrue to Google rather than to Microsoft."

Original article: Mozilla VP: Chrome Frame is the wrong answer from CNET News.com