It’s been a steady exodus since less than a year ago when they removed the bit from their TOS about never selling your personal data and promising to protect your privacy.
I believe the recent surge has been the forced integration of AI features which are on by default (arguments were made to at least make them opt-in and not opt-out). Such features compromise privacy and security.
They’re actively doing everything they can to monitize the consumer and going against their supposed stance as the ‘privacy focused’ browser.
Essentially, they claim to still not be monetizing the consumer. I can find no reporting claiming that they have monetized any consumer, and it’s been almost a year.
You’re right, I probably should have phrased that as ‘they appear to be doing everything they can to monetize the consumer…’
Actions speak louder than words and the action of modifying their TOU to remove the following really struck a nerve:
“Does Firefox sell your personal data?
Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That’s a promise.”
Removing this statement feels motivated by more than the excuses they’re giving - it feels like a betrayal. Subsequently shoe-horning in AI features doesn’t help reverse this sentiment, it only emboldens it.
To each their own, but Mozilla clearly doesn’t care about being ‘the privacy focused browser’ any longer or they wouldn’t be taking their current actions.
I do not understand it either; my best guess is that some law intern messed up real bad, and convinced somebody it was a risky thing to leave written down.
But yes, I’m really really interested in if they do stop being a private browser. As you say, actions speak louder than words, and a TOU always felt like a pile of words to me.
It’s been a steady exodus since less than a year ago when they removed the bit from their TOS about never selling your personal data and promising to protect your privacy.
I believe the recent surge has been the forced integration of AI features which are on by default (arguments were made to at least make them opt-in and not opt-out). Such features compromise privacy and security.
They’re actively doing everything they can to monitize the consumer and going against their supposed stance as the ‘privacy focused’ browser.
Noting their blog response: https://blog.mozilla.org/en/firefox/update-on-terms-of-use/
Essentially, they claim to still not be monetizing the consumer. I can find no reporting claiming that they have monetized any consumer, and it’s been almost a year.
You’re right, I probably should have phrased that as ‘they appear to be doing everything they can to monetize the consumer…’
Actions speak louder than words and the action of modifying their TOU to remove the following really struck a nerve:
“Does Firefox sell your personal data? Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That’s a promise.”
Removing this statement feels motivated by more than the excuses they’re giving - it feels like a betrayal. Subsequently shoe-horning in AI features doesn’t help reverse this sentiment, it only emboldens it.
To each their own, but Mozilla clearly doesn’t care about being ‘the privacy focused browser’ any longer or they wouldn’t be taking their current actions.
I do not understand it either; my best guess is that some law intern messed up real bad, and convinced somebody it was a risky thing to leave written down.
But yes, I’m really really interested in if they do stop being a private browser. As you say, actions speak louder than words, and a TOU always felt like a pile of words to me.