Privacy

1174 readers

1195 users here now

Protect your privacy in the digital world

Welcome! This is a community for all those who are interested in protecting their privacy.

Rules

PS: Don't be a smartass and try to game the system, we'll know if you're breaking the rules when we see it!

Be nice, civil and no bigotry/prejudice.
No tankies/alt-right fascists. The former can be tolerated but the latter are banned.
Stay on topic.
Don't promote proprietary software.
No crypto, blockchain, etc.
No Xitter links. (only allowed when can't fact check any other way, use xcancel)
If in doubt, read rule 1

Related communities:

founded 3 months ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

161

Mozilla flamed by Firefox fans after promises to not sell their data go up in smoke (www.theregister.com)

submitted 19 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

21 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26244492

The answer to "what is Firefox?" on Mozilla's FAQ page about its browser used to read:

The Firefox Browser is the only major browser backed by a not-for-profit that doesn’t sell your personal data to advertisers while helping you protect your personal information.

Now it just says:

The Firefox Browser, the only major browser backed by a not-for-profit, helps you protect your personal information.

In other words, Mozilla is no longer willing to commit to not selling your personal data to advertisers.

A related change was also highlighted by mozilla.org commenter jkaelin, who linked direct to the source code for that FAQ page. To answer the question, "is Firefox free?" Moz used to say:

Yep! The Firefox Browser is free. Super free, actually. No hidden costs or anything. You don’t pay anything to use it, and we don’t sell your personal data.

Now it simply reads:

Yep! The Firefox Browser is free. Super free, actually. No hidden costs or anything. You don’t pay anything to use it.

Again, a pledge to not sell people's data has disappeared. Varma insisted this is the result of the fluid definition of “sell” in the context of data sharing and privacy.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] grue 8 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago) (1 children)

Netscape Navigator was different software. It became the browser component of Netscape Communicator, then Mozilla Application Suite, then Mozilla Seamonkey, and has now been spun off from Mozilla and is just called Seamonkey.

Mozilla Phoenix/Firebird/Firefox was a from-scratch rewrite to make a minimalist standalone browser without the bloat of Mozilla Application Suite, where nonessential features could be added as extensions. (That's why it was initially named "Phoenix": because it was rising from the ashes of Navigator.)

(For the record, I am not so old as to have used Netscape 1.0.)

[–] DougHolland 5 points 11 hours ago

(: Man, the things I learn from smart folks on Lemmy...