Found this notification this morning on my pixel 6.

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[–] 438 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Even if this isn't entirely true, you know Google wouldn't pass up the opportunity to reduce Firefox market share to scare everyone back to Chrome.

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  • [+] 117 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)
  • [–] 92 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    That's not the point they're trying to make I think. It's more of an attack on perfection. Like "the alternative is not perfect either so why not just stay with Chrome". It's not a very strong argument in general but it might be enough to keep people from switching.

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  • [–] 18 points 1 year ago

    the alternative is not perfect either so why not just stay

    It does work for a lot of people. Seeing they need to change and adapt if they do change, and it seemingly seems to be as bad as what they're using now, why change and face headaches and hassle.

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  • [–] 35 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    No but where are you going to go. The options are shrinking.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Zen browser is great on desktop

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

    Zen, at least from the few times that I've tried it, also has some major issues that I personally find to be deal-breakers. Like forgetting tabs in a window that has just been closed. If you accidentally close a window that you're working, without quitting the browser, you lose everything in it. As someone who is prone to doing that when closing a tab, it's not ideal.

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  • [–] 22 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    There's no need to reduce Firefox marketshare. Most people don't even consider using anything else than whatever is default in their device.

    Also, it's not a Google scare tactic or a flex. Every application on the Play Store must disclose the general outlines of their data policy, including the sharing of data. Lying with those checkbox is not a good idea but they are completely informative and put there by the publishing party, so the people responsible for publishing Firefox on mobile just updated these, and this is what is shown when an app publisher say their app is sharing data with third parties.

    tl;dr: it's very likely that not a single soul at Google even looked at this, as this is just the regular behavior of the Play Store with apps that changes their data policy or indicate sharing user data with third parties.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Why the dichotomy between the chrome listing on the store then?

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    No idea, I'm not that obsessed with it. But do note that "The developers of these apps provided info about their data sharing practices to an app store. They may update it over time." and "Data sharing practices may vary based on your app version, use, region, and age."

    The recent changes to Firefox terms of use (well, their introduction really) was supposedly meant to appease some regional lawmakers. Maybe it is a regional thing. Maybe they changed it again. Maybe it's, as often with store page update, rolled out progressively to people (in either direction, whether it's adding or removing these terms).

    The point is, that's neither a "Google" operation to put Firefox in a bad light, nor a Mozilla operation to… do whatever it is they're doing these days. It's just a regular message. Which, reading a lot of the replies here, is something that have to be said.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

    Firefox? You mean the company they give several hundred million dollars/year? Yeah I don't think they're too worried. They need some number of users on Firefox to prevent anti-trust issues. Which they're on the brink of right now.

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    So you're advocating that Google shouldn't broadcast that firefox is broadcasting your current location? Even though they do this for every other app available on Android, you're saying they shouldn't do this for firefox?

    Why?

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  • [–] -3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    They want to scare people to stay on Chrome now that they discontinued support of uBlock (not that it was ever supported on Chrome for Android anyway)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    So they do this for all apps. Every single app that is in the Android ecosystem. But in your mind they're specifically targeting firefox with this to make people "scared" huh?

    Must be nice to live in denial.

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  • [+] -7 points 1 year ago (3 children)
  • [–] 48 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    The story I heard was that by of California's definition of selling data, doing anything with user data that could benefit the company was considered selling data. So they updated their FAQ to be in line with that definition. But I could be wrong, if someone could point me to a good article I'd appreciate it.

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    Thanks! Sounds like limiting risk from the California bill is a plausible reason, but it isn't confirmed.

    Legal Definitions of "Selling Data" Under the CCPA Are Broad: As noted above, the CCPA's definition encompasses many data-sharing practices that may not align with common understanding of "selling data".[16] Even if Mozilla was not directly selling user data, its search partnerships, telemetry data sharing, & sponsored content could have been interpreted as data sales if Mozilla received any financial benefit from them, all of which were actions that Mozilla has already been transparent & upfront about.

    Mozilla's Search Engine Deals Could Be Considered Data Sales: As mentioned earlier, these partnerships could legally qualify as data sales under the CCPA definition, despite being an existing part of Mozilla's business model that consumers are already aware of.[1]

    Sponsored Content in Firefox's New Tab Page Involves Data Exchange: Mozilla dReferencesisplays sponsored content and ads on the Firefox New Tab page, which may involve user interaction data being shared with advertisers.[11] Even if the data is anonymized, the CCPA considers certain types of aggregated data as personal information if it can be linked back to users.[16]

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    It sounds like a bullshit excuse, to me.

    If they wanted to cover their ass, they could have changed their ToS any number of different ways than what they went with.

    Let's not be naïve. All corporations are the enemy, including Mozilla.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    To be fair they are a company with bills to pay and they have to shield themselves from being fined or sued. At this point I assume almost everything has been backdoored to hell and I'd rather use the product from the company with better overall terms and principles.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    i'm a person with bills to pay, but if i paid those bills by endangering people, i'd be a bad person.

    corporations exist to protect people from the financial and legal repercussions of their business activity.

    they should not exist, and so, I will celebrate if Mozilla goes into bankruptcy.

    we do not need them. control of firefox should be in the hands of a not-for-profit group, not a company.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)