134
Mozilla Backs off on Data Collection: Firefox Labs to Not Require Telemetry or Studies in Future Updates (www.quippd.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/firefox@lemmy.world
17 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Starting in Firefox 138, Mozilla started gating Firefox Labs features behind data collection.

Mozilla had announced that some new Firefox features would be released via Firefox Labs.

It is now a few hours since I posted, and there is reason to celebrate – Mozilla is updating Firefox Labs to let people access features without needing to enable data collection.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[+] -8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

So in a few hours your post went all the way up the chain, the cost-benefit analysis changed, and the course was reversed? That's neat.

Or, of course, it was never an intentional evil plan that was "backed off" from... Perhaps it indeed was an artefact of how things evolved over time with an unfortunate side-effect, and we shouldn't be too quick to jump to the worst-faith interpretation of events.

Sorry, I'm just a bit tired of the reactionary pressure to be outraged about everything on social media. Even the non-VC-funded ones.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 6 child comments
    •
  • [–] [S] 7 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I have no idea what prompted them to shift their position - I just know that they shifted. Look at the release notes and the support pages if you disagree. There is clearly a change.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -5 points 1 year ago

    I agree that there's a change in that it's now publicly communicated that it's not an ideal end state to tie Labs to whether telemetry is enabled, but that might just as well have been the case in the first place - just not communicated publicly. (If that is indeed the case, then of course ideally that would have been explicit somewhere immediately, but alas.)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    I'm just a bit tired of the reactionary pressure to be outraged about everything on social media.

    Have you tried... I dunno... just skipping the posts you don't like? Others are clearly interested in this post and topic. You're not the social media judge who decides what's worthy of discussion. Just keep scrolling, friend.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    That kinda works, but it's just that I've also been on the other side of this. Like, just now I read this, and it just makes me sad.

    Me not jumping on the bandwagon doesn't make it better. But I'm hoping for a movement to dissuade others from doing so.

    And also, I know the lure of being outraged about everything, and I'm sure that among everyone who thinks they are interested in it, there are plenty who would actually be better off not getting wound up about it. (But yes, that's probably not you.)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [+] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Either log a feature request in Mozilla Connect and otherwise not talk about it on social media, or if you talk about it on social media, start with a "hmm, I wonder why this" attitude, rather than a "Firefox is becoming spyware and no longer open source" one.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 4 child comments
    •
  • [–] 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 child)

    deleted by creator

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago

    I guess, but it's just so tiring to keep getting collectively outraged about every little thing. And sometimes it does have the opposite effect, i.e. it doesn't necessarily work.

    (Although I don't think you could stir up an effective outrage campaign that would result in StartPage getting added, but I'll concede the larger point that Connect posts aren't automatically added to the TODO list.)

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • [+] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
    •
  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    Yeah, quite a bit, especially compared to the rest of the industry. The reason is a) because that Corporation is owned by a non-profit, i.e. it has no shareholders that want to squeeze users for every penny, and b) there's a solid track record, and lots of passionate employees and contributors.

    Add to that that the belief that the only thing that will come from Mozilla's demise, is even more power to Google, Microsoft and Apple, and yeah... I'm hesitant to immediately go for the worst-faith interpretations of every action. Unfortunately most of the Fediverse appears to think differently.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent