this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2025
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Firefox

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Anything you say or do on Firefox may be used by Mozilla against you. You have the right to use a different browser. If you cannot find a browser that doesn’t fuck you over one way or another, one will not be provided for you because capitalism is working exactly as designed.

https://blog.mozilla.org/en/products/firefox/firefox-terms-of-use/

https://connect.mozilla.org/t5/discussions/information-about-the-new-terms-of-use-and-updated-privacy/td-p/87735

#Mozilla #Firefox #TermsOfUse #SiliconValley #BigTech #USA #AI

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[–] Deebster@programming.dev 15 points 1 month ago (3 children)

The Privacy Notice doesn't say anything problematic at all, why is everyone acting like Mozilla is going to be feeding every keystroke into a database/AI? It's just saying that they're allowed use your inputs to browse to the sites you've asked for, and to give the form data/uploads/mic/whatever to the sites you're using.

A few words cherry picked from the middle of a sentence isn't how legal stuff works.

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@Deebster@programming.dev Oh, I don’t know… I wonder why…

[–] Deebster@programming.dev 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, Mozilla does some AI, like the in-browser, privacy-respecting language translation. If you use the same feature in Chrome, the text is submitted to a Google server, but in Firefox it never leaves your browser. I don't see how this could be spun to count against Firefox/Mozilla.

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@Deebster@programming.dev Uh-huh. Yep. Sure. Let’s give them every benefit of the doubt.

[–] Iapar@feddit.org 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Is that how religion started? Someone not understanding how something works and then living life in fear of some imagined horror scenario?

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@Iapar@feddit.org Oh, the irony.

[–] Iapar@feddit.org 2 points 1 month ago

What do you mean?

[–] GreatBlueHeron@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I'm not lawyer, but my reading of it says they can use that to at least get you targeted ads. Is that not a worry, or is it not new?

[–] Deebster@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

In the advertising bit they say what data they use and it's all broad stuff like device type and location, as well as aggregate data on how many people click on the ads. Of course, you can just disable this, which surely most people do - tbh I forgot there was even this "sponsored content" there at all (it was added a while ago I think).

They don't say that your browsing habits, interactions or communications are used for anything besides doing what's required to actually do what you asked.

[–] 4am@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Wtf are you on about ? A browser does not need a TOS in order to serve you web pages.

The only reason that you need a TOS is if you are collecting and retaining (and possibly analyzing) those user inputs on separate third-party servers.

It’s a fucking wiretap.

[–] Deebster@programming.dev 1 points 1 month ago

The docs say what they do and don't do - and they don't do that. Just actually read through them for yourself, you don't have to be a lawyer.

This is just a bit of corporate box-ticking, but the pitchfork brigade has read 2 + 2 and is now screaming about 5s.

[–] wonkothesane@mstdn.social 9 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al Another good reminder that just because something is lead by a non-profit does not mean it has inherent ethics or the interests of its consumers in mind

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 3 points 1 month ago

@wonkothesane@mstdn.social * A not-for-profit that owns a half-a-billion dollar a year for-profit that gets its half-a-billion dollars a year from Google.

[–] Acronymesis@mastodon.world 6 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al Grrr, I just switched over to Firefox after realizing how crappy Chrome is for privacy/ads. 😡

[–] Hache@masto.es 4 points 1 month ago (2 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al I have a question here, does this also apply to Firefox forks? (I'm affraid the answer is yes...)

CC: @Waterfox@mastodon.social

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 4 points 1 month ago

@Hache@masto.es @Waterfox@mastodon.social No, they can’t dictate terms of use for forks without violating their own open source license.

[–] Waterfox@mastodon.social 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

@Hache @aral this doesn’t apply to us, we have our own privacy policy. But bear in mind if you use a Mozilla account/sync you still have to know the terms for those services.

Just from a cursory glance it doesn’t seem there’s anything egregious with the terms of use or privacy policy update - is there anything specific that sticks out? Legally companies have to provide a privacy policy; terms of use aren’t necessary but just seems to state what is already the case.

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[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 4 points 1 month ago

Guess they have to pay the CEO's $7m salary somehow.

[–] maniajack@mastodon.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al I don't quite understand the hate of Firefox, was their update directly at your sentiment? Mozilla is a nonprofit and they're of course not going to be perfect but they're kind of the last game in town since Google took over all the browser backends? I see a lot of "go to librewolf" but would they have enough support to maintain the browser if FF died?

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 4 points 1 month ago

@maniajack@mastodon.world Mozilla is a not-for-profit that owns a half-a-billion dollar a year for-profit that gets its half-a-billion dollars a year from Google.

Or, as their head of public policy once told me: “Why are you being so hard on us? We’re just another Silicon Valley tech company.”

🤷‍♂️

[–] Marguerite@mastodon.nl 4 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al The practical solution I found in the comments was #LibreWolf. I'll have a look at that browser. Just being interested in alternative solutions.

#browsers

[–] derrydavis@techhub.social 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al has anyone used the #TheOnionRouter aka tor browser? @eff@mastodon.social rates it good for privacy.

[–] DemBoSain@midwest.social 2 points 1 month ago

It's very slow, and many websites block TOR users.

[–] mijenix@infosec.exchange 3 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al
good time to start contributing to ladybird, either monetary or via
contributions

[–] messaroundmarx@zirk.us 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al
Does that mean, if i type something into a mask on an encrypted website (https), that Mozilla can read it?

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@messaroundmarx@zirk.us 🤷‍♂️

At least they’re open source so you should be able to see exactly what information is being collected if you dive into the code.

[–] bluGill@fedia.io 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al

@messaroundmarx@zirk.us http://www.underhanded-c.org/

[–] Oiselarius@dice.camp 2 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al deleted the app and Thunderbird

@aral@mastodon.ar.al

That's... Accurate.

Hurtful, to be honest, but accurate.

[–] reay@beige.party 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al I’ve been noodling on privacy-oriented and non-Chromium options other than FF for a while, and feel a bit hamstrung.

Really rather avoid Brave for not wanting to support that CEO, and that doesn’t leave much.

The hope that I can also sync a browser between my iPhone app and Windows laptop seemingly just makes it totally unattainable.

Wide open to other recommendations.

[–] seang96@spgrn.com 2 points 1 month ago

Donate or support an open source engine so we can leave these baddies behind us https://servo.org/ it was originally a mozilla project but is now its own. I have been watching it for a year and they have made a significant amount of progress but still a lot more to go.

[–] aapis@mastodon.world 2 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al that’s it, I’m making my own browser from scratch. Forget the blackjack and hookers, I just want to browse the internet sometimes

[–] sm32d@infosec.exchange 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al
@mozillaofficial@mastodon.social @firefoxnightly@mastodon.social care to explain?

[–] biglinter@mastodon.social 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al luckily one has a choice... to switch what theyre using.

one choice might be the tor browser. which is based on ff, lets you import your bookmarks (password import is a bit problematic...) and supports the extensions without that the web would be unbareable.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

Can someone clarify if there's an option to opt-out of all these new data collection stuff? I have all the telemetry related stuff disabled, so I'm not sure if it includes these new things.

[–] reay@beige.party 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al
@FirewallDragons@mastodon.social My email to you preceded my seeing this, but yeah, in the same vein of questioning…

[–] beisbolcards@mastodon.world 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al

Gave Vivaldi a try and so far am enjoying the UI as I can move between tabs easier than Firefox and seems a bit faster.

[–] QuantumAspect@mastodon.social 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al That looks bad. But it won't drive me to run straight in the claws of Google's Chromium. The choices without Chromium are thin. Maybe i will give LibreWolf a spin some day.

[–] Chiquidrakula@infosec.exchange 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al time for @fedora@fosstodon.org to move away from shipping @firefox@lemmy.world on new releases.

[–] Randomgal@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Bro imagine caring so much about your fucking browser. Lmao

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 6 points 1 month ago

@Randomgal@lemmy.ca I bet you’re great fun at parties.

[–] jazzonbike@mastodon.social 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al Waht's about Brave as an alternative?

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@jazzonbike@mastodon.social This is Brave:

[–] jazzonbike@mastodon.social 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

@aral@mastodon.ar.al Sorry, meant the Brave Browser

[–] aral@mastodon.ar.al 1 points 1 month ago

@jazzonbike@mastodon.social So did I.

[–] Fou_ad@mastodon.world 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al

Where does Opera stand as a privacy oriented choice?

@aral@mastodon.ar.al Damn, not firefox too. It was the last mainstream browser that didn't exploit your privacy. People who want to switch, Vivaldi, Brave and other firefox forks are still open (though you should do your research before moving)

[–] SpaceLifeForm@infosec.exchange 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al

Fork it.

[–] sb@metroholografix.ca 1 points 1 month ago

@aral@mastodon.ar.al
Has anyone successfully run their own FF sync server? I have tried twice recently with no success.

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