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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/privacy@lemmy.world
18 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.

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[–] 36 points 1 year ago (2 children)

A gentle reminder that the Firefox Binary is no longer open source. It is source-available. You license the binary under their own proprietary Terms of Use, which explicitly grants Mozilla to use your data in a manner they seem fit to "operate Firefox".

They say they are using your data for research purposes but they also say they can modify the license at any time.

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

    Still better than Chrome.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Yes... I was going to comment that.

    Sure I agree that Firefox, or Mozilla, is far from perfect. It should be better... but at the same time if we share not actually useful data, namely data to make the product better, NOT unrelated behavioral data to fuel ads, while alternatives (not to say competition) get both, then there is a problem.

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

    I wonder if you will get excoriated for this opinion, since I had to respond to people in my last post with an update because people were adamant that Firefox was open source. 😼

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  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago

    There are two "Firefox"s:

    1. Firefox, the code base.
    2. Firefox, the compiled binary of that code base.

    The codebase remains open source under the MPL while the binary explicitly, by Mozilla's own admission, is not. They are source available.

    From the very brief skim I did of your post, it looks like we're on the same page. I had a few people who don't understand open source licenses come at me in my Lemmy replies when this was first unfolding. Ultimately it's on them to understand their agreements.

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    • [–] 25 points 1 year ago

    Lol, how many times have they done this now? They are obsessed.

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    [–] 15 points 1 year ago

    It’s clear that Mozilla’s priorities have shifted. The damage is done. I get the same vibe as a frat boy that keeps getting turned down but won’t stop trying until the girl is drunk enough for him to get his way. The ethical reputation of the company is forever tarnished.

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    [–] 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    non-european firms are not to be trusted no more. they continously stomp on our privacy-rights.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    European companies and governments regrettably aren't better, they simply don't have that many eyes on them because, well, they don't have much to show for to begin with. Name a production-ready made-in-Europe browser/browser-engine. Name a widespread European messenger. A European smartphone platform? European Facebook or Twitter? Anything?

    Even the few small scale European examples that you might come up with had an absurd amount of controversy to them. Remember that Tutanota thing? Remember Chat Control?

    The reason people believe that Europe is so much more privacy respecting than the US is simply because there aren't many services to exercise the same level of invasive, authoritarian control over than in the US. If 60% of the world however would be using a Nokia minäPuhelin you would see the same, if not worse, privacy-invasive regulation and controversy popping off every other week.

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

    If 60% of the world however would be using a Nokia minäPuhelin you would see the same, if not worse, privacy-invasive regulation and controversy popping off every other week.

    Right... in fact if you look deep down within a TSMC chip you can see an ASML fueled IP on how to spy on people. /s

    I think you are muddying the water with unrelated (albeit legitimates) problems (e.g. court order or political proposal vs actual regulation on all companies, EU ones included) and total speculation on what you imagine would happen if the world was different.

    The Brussels effect make the world better even if the EU was not even well intentioned in the first place or didn't actually build anything.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    You are right, I am speculating, as was the poster of the parent comment. I certainly didn't mean to muddy any waters, but you have to admit that there have been things going on within the EU, that paint a bit of a bleak picture of how the table might turn if the EU had greater influence/power (in terms of aforementioned platforms and software) on the global stage.

    And while you're right that the examples I gave didn't become actual law just yet, it's certainly not due to the EUs benevolence that proposals didn't materialize, but instead very much like in Mozilla's case, that the outcry from people had them reconsider.

    However, I believe there were proposals that were put into law even though the outcry was there. (eg. Article 13?)

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

    I know everyone likes to bash ff, but it's still a great project.

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

    It's still much better than chrome and most other mainstream browser and it works.

    All the "better" options require serious effort to use. Sites will break, features you used will be removed, and so on.

    The computer world is fracturing in a weird and annoying way

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    Agree about the fracturing. I've been using Librewolf for months and it's basially Firefox without the telemetry nonsense. Most sites work fine and it's not that hard to setup. Just import your bookmarks and your good to go.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    Feel like Everytime it's brought up people mention missing features or broken sites. I've been meaning to try it but someone gets brought up every time. Stuff I usually like.

    Like tabs across devices, does that work?

    Am I misremembering, but it doesn't do updates right? Like you have to manually go get them? Which I'm likely to forget forever...

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