Or you can just opt out if you don’t think Mozilla should have this data which is strictly about the browser and whether it’s the default browser, and which in no way compromises any personal info.
Just because something uses telemetry doesn’t mean it’s used in a way that compromises your personal data.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook and many others do that, Mozilla/Firefox does not.
FF in my experience respects settings too. MS straight up ignores or resets them silently, and Google goes full dark patterns and/or creates new settings to nickel and dime you on data
Facebook no experience, dumped that shit in like 09
That was the thing that bothered me the most. Sure I could go through every subsystem individually and make the changes to make the system more private and secure. That would take a while to do manually, or use one of the tools that do this. But, every time anything has an update you can’t trust that it didn’t reset a setting.
Running the tool after every update is annoying and after a while it just got frustrating to see settings, that I know I’ve disabled (because, the tool does it every time), which are now re-activated thanks to an update.
information about how Firefox functions on your device and how you use its features. This includes performance details like page load times, and memory usage, as well as insights into which Firefox features you interact with, such as bookmarks, tabs or settings. Additionally, it collects general device information, including your operating system, browser version and hardware specifications. Mozilla uses this data to enhance Firefox while respecting your privacy.
There is zero, zip, zilch, nada personalo info collected.
So please point out to me which of these it is that worries you?
Also please point out which of these it is you think Mozilla would be able to sell?
Removing “we don’t sell access to your data”. Curiously this change is only for the TOU. Presumable because that is legally binding. Idk where the “else” branch is displayed though.
Removing this question from FAQ: “Does Firefox sell your personal data? Nope. Never has, never will (…). That’s a promise”
Remove another mention in the TOU “and we don’t sell your personal data”. That again was not removed from the “else” branch
That to me indicates one of the following:
They have started selling data.
They plan on selling data in the near future.
They don’t feel confident that they can keep that promise forever. That is, they see a future where they sell data.
I don’t like either of those alternatives.
I don’t know if they are able to sell the data you mentioned. Because I’m not in the enshittification minds of giant American corporations. 20 years ago people would laugh at the idea of buying data about the screen size of a user. But now they do, and use it for fingerprinting. If recent history has shown anything is that most data has some kind of value. And giant corporations will find their way to use that data against users.
I’ve seen way too many companies that were supposed to be the cool kids and were doing everything morally enshittify. There’s no reason to believe Mozilla is going to be different. They’re showing the same signs.
I never claimed they didn’t remove those lines.
But your screen size is NOT personal info.
Also this line was in my previous post:
Mozilla uses this data to enhance Firefox while respecting your privacy.
So how do you imagine selling personal data is respecting privacy?
Again what you are doing could be libel, you have zero evidence to back up your claim, it’s pure speculation.
and if there were laws with actual penalties which ensured that it was only used for providing the service and not assimilated into a data broker database so that their clients can guess which shampoo I’m going to buy or which brown people they can kidnap.
They do, but just like anything dealing with security or privacy, there are degrees of inconvenience and “breaking” that are not suited for every situation.
Firefox is a good default, but if you want more privacy, LibreWolf is an option. LibreWolf configures more settings by default to protect your privacy— but these come at a cost. The cost being that more websites are likely to break and/or need “fixing”. Look at the list of features that LibreWolf may break here [0]. This is not a browser for your general family or someone who just wants things to “work”.
Interestingly, LibreWolf disable Google Safe Browsing, which they actually recommend you enable as Firefox has implemented it in a privacy preserving way. The devs disable it by default in LibrewWolf for a semi-technical reason [1]. Without Google Safe Browsing you will not get warned about dangerous sites known for phishing, malware, or unwanted software. Technically inclined people may not want this, but I would never disable this feature for friends/family as that would put them at risk.
Lastly, if your friends/family ran into website that doesn’t work, they will not be troubleshooting the problem or trying to find a workaround. They will uninstall the browser and go running back to Chrome- this is the fine line that Firefox needs to navigate to ensure they protect user privacy, but don’t inconvenience those who don’t have the technical chops or patience.
Still does telemetry, and allows easy fingerprinting by default. Use Librewolf instead.
Or you can just opt out if you don’t think Mozilla should have this data which is strictly about the browser and whether it’s the default browser, and which in no way compromises any personal info.
Just because something uses telemetry doesn’t mean it’s used in a way that compromises your personal data.
Google, Microsoft, Facebook and many others do that, Mozilla/Firefox does not.
FF in my experience respects settings too. MS straight up ignores or resets them silently, and Google goes full dark patterns and/or creates new settings to nickel and dime you on data
Facebook no experience, dumped that shit in like 09
That was the thing that bothered me the most. Sure I could go through every subsystem individually and make the changes to make the system more private and secure. That would take a while to do manually, or use one of the tools that do this. But, every time anything has an update you can’t trust that it didn’t reset a setting.
Running the tool after every update is annoying and after a while it just got frustrating to see settings, that I know I’ve disabled (because, the tool does it every time), which are now re-activated thanks to an update.
It’s just scummy behavior.
When I installed win10 it straight up ignored every single choice I made in the oobe. It may as well have not existed
You probably missed the news. But Firefox is becoming a data seller too.
Recently they updated their policies, since they are on GitHub you can see the exact changes.
One of them was the elimination of a phrase like “we won’t sell your data, and that’s a promise”. So promise broken I guess.
No I did not, but did you ever stop to wonder why there is so much anti Firefox propaganda, as Google is trying to prevent ad-blockers?
Manage technical and interaction data collection settings in Firefox:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/technical-and-interaction-data
What is technical and interaction data?:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/technical-and-interaction-data#w_what-is-technical-and-interaction-data
There is zero, zip, zilch, nada personalo info collected.
So please point out to me which of these it is that worries you?
Also please point out which of these it is you think Mozilla would be able to sell?
I think that technically that is libel!
It is not propaganda as it is factual information. If you believe this is 4D chess from Google to manipulate us to dislike Firefox you are out of your mind. https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/commit/d459addab846d8144b61939b7f4310eb80c5470e this is an actual commit made by mozilla. It was not made by Google.
Changes include:
That to me indicates one of the following:
I don’t like either of those alternatives.
I don’t know if they are able to sell the data you mentioned. Because I’m not in the enshittification minds of giant American corporations. 20 years ago people would laugh at the idea of buying data about the screen size of a user. But now they do, and use it for fingerprinting. If recent history has shown anything is that most data has some kind of value. And giant corporations will find their way to use that data against users.
I’ve seen way too many companies that were supposed to be the cool kids and were doing everything morally enshittify. There’s no reason to believe Mozilla is going to be different. They’re showing the same signs.
I never claimed they didn’t remove those lines.
But your screen size is NOT personal info.
Also this line was in my previous post:
So how do you imagine selling personal data is respecting privacy?
Again what you are doing could be libel, you have zero evidence to back up your claim, it’s pure speculation.
by the way some people talk here you’d think “telemetry” was a synonym to “satanism”.
telemetry is not automatically evil.
It would be ok if it was opt in
and if there were laws with actual penalties which ensured that it was only used for providing the service and not assimilated into a data broker database so that their clients can guess which shampoo I’m going to buy or which brown people they can kidnap.
A man can dream
The EU has been making some good progress in that direction luckily
The vast majority of progress on privacy rights and electronics regulation for the US Consumer is because of EU regulations.
We’re unlikely to see any progress domestically anytime soon.
since 99% of users never touch a single setting on their computers, being opt-in makes telemetry functionally useless.
I thought they specifically take anti-fingerprinting measures by default? Is this not true?
They do, but just like anything dealing with security or privacy, there are degrees of inconvenience and “breaking” that are not suited for every situation.
Firefox is a good default, but if you want more privacy, LibreWolf is an option. LibreWolf configures more settings by default to protect your privacy— but these come at a cost. The cost being that more websites are likely to break and/or need “fixing”. Look at the list of features that LibreWolf may break here [0]. This is not a browser for your general family or someone who just wants things to “work”.
Interestingly, LibreWolf disable Google Safe Browsing, which they actually recommend you enable as Firefox has implemented it in a privacy preserving way. The devs disable it by default in LibrewWolf for a semi-technical reason [1]. Without Google Safe Browsing you will not get warned about dangerous sites known for phishing, malware, or unwanted software. Technically inclined people may not want this, but I would never disable this feature for friends/family as that would put them at risk.
Lastly, if your friends/family ran into website that doesn’t work, they will not be troubleshooting the problem or trying to find a workaround. They will uninstall the browser and go running back to Chrome- this is the fine line that Firefox needs to navigate to ensure they protect user privacy, but don’t inconvenience those who don’t have the technical chops or patience.
[0] https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/#what-are-the-most-common-downsides-of-rfp-resist-fingerprinting
[1] https://librewolf.net/docs/faq/#why-do-you-disable-google-safe-browsing
Well said