this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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Firefox maker Mozilla deleted a promise to never sell its users' personal data and is trying to assure worried users that its approach to privacy hasn't fundamentally changed. Until recently, a Firefox FAQ promised that the browser maker never has and never will sell its users' personal data. An archived version from January 30 says:

Does Firefox sell your personal data?

Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That's a promise.

That promise is removed from the current version. There's also a notable change in a data privacy FAQ that used to say, "Mozilla doesn't sell data about you, and we don't buy data about you."

The data privacy FAQ now explains that Mozilla is no longer making blanket promises about not selling data because some legal jurisdictions define "sale" in a very broad way:

Mozilla doesn't sell data about you (in the way that most people think about "selling data"), and we don't buy data about you. Since we strive for transparency, and the LEGAL definition of "sale of data" is extremely broad in some places, we've had to step back from making the definitive statements you know and love. We still put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share with our partners (which we need to do to make Firefox commercially viable) is stripped of any identifying information, or shared only in the aggregate, or is put through our privacy preserving technologies (like OHTTP).

Mozilla didn't say which legal jurisdictions have these broad definitions.

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[–] zecg@lemmy.world 10 points 39 minutes ago

We still put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share with our partners (which we need to do to make Firefox commercially viable) is stripped of any identifying information, or shared only in the aggregate,

Fuck off Mozilla. Maybe don't pay CEOs millions and don't force things like Pocket and LLMs on users if you want to be commercially viable, I'd gladly pay for Firefox that doesn't make me dodge new features and services. But it would be a donation towards development of a browser that is commons, since you have no product to sell, only GPL'd code that's mine as much as yours.

You have NO fucking leverage, Firefox is better than Chrome, but there's projects that will gladly repackage your code with no telemetry whatsoever for any platform while you're brainstorming just the right amount of monetization to prevent the frog from jumping.

It's kind of sad I don't use Chrome and therefore never think of it, while I like and use Firefox and am therefore constantly at odds with Mozilla.

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 4 points 33 minutes ago

I mean you could argue that them defaulting to Google search is already them selling your data. Google definitely pay them for that.

[–] Don_alForno@feddit.org 1 points 2 minutes ago

Which jurisdictions? What kind of broad way? Give one example please. I dare you.

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 14 points 2 hours ago (2 children)

This is why I am an advocate for publicly-funded Internet, like how people fund NPR and BBC.

I don't blame Firefox because at the end of the day, they are still a business and need to cover the operating cost. I blame the system that we're in and the elites will tell you there is no other alternative.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 4 points 48 minutes ago (1 children)

and the elites will tell you there is no other alternative

That's like blaming wolves for eating you when it's winter, they are hungry and you are in the forest

[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 1 points 44 minutes ago

We are still in a capitalistic. Money still prevails.

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 33 minutes ago

What operating costs? You could argue there are development costs, but development is driven by the community. The only operating costs are forced stalking behavior.

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago)

please pay me if you want to sell my data. At the end of the day I am a business and need to cover operating cost.

Is there an open source tool to generate fake user activity data for Firefox to consume?

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world 61 points 4 hours ago (6 children)

current acting CEO of Mozilla is Laura Chambers. An Australian native and has quite...interesting work history.

1000001226

It's weird isn't it? how these same names keep coming up again and again...

Ebay, Paypal, Airbnb.

she would have likely worked with Thiel and Musk during her time there. I wonder if there's any lingering commitment there?

[–] Kurroth@lemmy.world 8 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

As an Australian.Do not trust us when it comes to privacy, security especially in tech or the digital space.

We are not a nation descendant of 'convicts' but of prison guards and other colonial boot lickers.

We are US lite or US 10years ago or maybe their tearing ground. Can't figure it out.

[–] Fashim@lemmy.world 4 points 1 hour ago

Yeah don't trust us, we've gutted all forms of STEM that aren't directly related to digging shit out of the ground for Gina Rinehart and co

Serious intellectual brain drain in this country now, we really are the US 10 years ago, hopefully the US explodes enough to stop all our idiots blindly following their jingoism to our doom

[–] goldenquetzal@lemmy.world 6 points 2 hours ago

Glad you shared this. I hate to be That Tin Foil Hat Person but it seems really convenient that a Musk and Thiel tied CEO happens to take over the one browser base that isn't Chromium just before people start moving to it for privacy in escalating numbers.

[–] A7thStone@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

McKinsey is honestly scarier. They may not be a household name like the others, but look them up. They are frightening.

[–] pebbles@sh.itjust.works 10 points 3 hours ago

Man, this is very disappointed news. Thanks though, good to know.

[–] unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 9 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

McKinsey, you forgot that, whatever the fuck it is

[–] ayyy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 29 minutes ago

I’ve been “laid off” by a McKinsey sweep twice in my Silicon Valley career and both times the stated reason was basically for making working software instead of lying and scamming.

[–] TheRealKuni@midwest.social 12 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 hours ago

shit no i shouldn't pretended. i do NOT want to learn more. but yes, thanks for the link.

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 2 hours ago

Stanford too

[–] Solventbubbles@lemmy.world 13 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

Son of a bitch I just got back into Firefox.

[–] CH3DD4R_G0BL1N@sh.itjust.works 14 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Get in loser, we’re going to librewolf apparently. Fuck me I’ve reached the age of seeing all the things I like die. I don’t even remember a time I didn’t use Firefox. God damn it

[–] DFX4509B_2@lemmy.org 1 points 1 minute ago

Icecat's good too.

[–] MITM0@lemmy.world 8 points 3 hours ago (1 children)
[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Is there any android port?

[–] popekingjoe@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

Not at the moment, but the Librewolf folks recommend Ironfox.

[–] IDKWhatUsernametoPutHereLolol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 38 minutes ago* (last edited 37 minutes ago)

None of Librefox Waterfox or Ironfox are on Fdroid. So Fennec (aka: Firefox) is still the only FOSS option on Fdroid

[–] lustyargonian@lemm.ee 1 points 42 minutes ago

Interesting. How's water fox?

[–] nthavoc@lemmy.today 28 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

I remember a time when Google wrote "Don't be evil" all over their stuff.....

[–] unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz 10 points 3 hours ago

dude i worked in a buncha different college libraries around the time of google's initial ascension. Google slayed. it was awesome, in 2000.

now? google is a drippy search engine.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 1 hour ago

There's a phrase that is still very close to that in some company statement still, I sort of view it as pointless to talk about. We know they're evil by their actions, and they were evil before they removed it in sure. If the statement is what matters, it's still basically there, just not the motto. It's just not worth worrying or talking about. They do so much worse shit. A friend of mine was recently let go after protesting about their response to the genocide in Gaza.

[–] AbsoluteChicagoDog@lemm.ee 7 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (3 children)

What's the next Android browser I'm installing fam?

[–] UltraGiGaGigantic@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

I just have friends send me memes to my clamshell flip phone through SMS

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 2 points 1 hour ago

Get your ham license and send them by SSTV over the air. Truly decentralized. https://youtu.be/Yak__tnFHKs

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[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 16 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

Gahhhh this is horrible

I spent some time switching to Librewolf this morning but at the end of the day, it having Firefox as the upstream means it’s all fragile and tenuous anyway

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