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See what’s changing in Firefox: Better insights, same privacy. Stil a good choice?
(blog.mozilla.org)
this post was submitted on 25 May 2024
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Privacy
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Is anonymous data collection really that bad? They've also been open and explained their whole process. Like surely data collection needs to happen at some level to inform new features and design?
No it's not that bad. They indeed are open about it. But it feels like baby steps in the wrong way. I don't really have an opinion but I was just a bit disappointed about the path they're going on. Because I don't see the added value of knowing what users search for. So i was curious about opinions from more educated people.
The value is likely that they're selling it. Because they're a non-profit, and they have to make money somehow. Or they're using it to develop some kind of ai search function.
But the important, critical fact here is that Mozilla has routinely demonstrated that they can be trusted when they tell you "You can turn this off, and if you turn this off, it is actually off, and it will stay off."
You will never see that from Google or Microsoft or any of the others.
Look at the part where they mentioned that if you already disabled telemetry, this new telemetry is also disabled. Think about how rare that is nowadays with any consumer software from most big for-profit tech companies. New bullshit is always on by default, even if you disabled it previously. The fact Mozilla respected that puts them miles ahead of any of their competitors.
As for the "path they're going on", I don't know what to tell you, man. Every company is on this same path right now. The economics of the internet and the tech industry have gone to absolute shit, where privacy, user choice, competitive markets, and non-profits are all dying a slow painful death to enrich wall street. Mozilla will probably get caught in it too, but the best we can hope for is they hold out the longest.
You're right that they are miles ahead of other companies regarding communication and opt-out. And indeed it's rare that they will adhere to your choice when they implement new functions. For new users it's good to know that they perhaps want to switch this data collection off. Maybe it's a knee jerk reaction from my side: wanting to increase privacy and seeing this message brought up some worries. Especially because other companies started the same. Google also disguises stuff for better privacy or security, but in the end it's just to prevent users from blocking their data analytics.
opt-in, consent, etc.
mullvad browser is my go to, which is firefox... so i consider it part of the ecosystem of firefoxes
If they are so interested in asking me for my opinions on new features and design, they can post a survey. Stuff like Mozilla Connect already exists. No need to spy on everything I do (or don't do).