Fuck, #Privacy (nearly none?)

#Mozilla #Fuckery #Enshittification [+user comments below]

"You give Mozilla all rights necessary to operate Firefox, including processing data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice, as well as acting on your behalf to help you navigate the internet. When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox."
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This sounds like a clear violation of:

Principle 4 - Individuals’ #security and #privacy on the internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional.

It also sounds like boilerplate AI harvesting language. If this is intended specifically for the #AI #chatbot, that needs to be clearly carved out, and not included in the general #terms.

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It's for this VERY reason I'm going to look for a different branch of #firefox to use (like #waterfox for example). I've also reported them on twitter for threatening to share private information since this very clearly falls under that.

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Doesn't change that the #license to use and abuse our #private #data so take your PR bs and leave. You're not pulling the wool over our eyes, either remove those vile terms or lose at least half your users.

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We are concerned because this answer, as per your blog, does not seem to be true. What basic functionality requires you (Mozilla) to collect our data and thus need a license for it? You (mozilla) only need a licence if you take our data. There is no need for a licence if you never see or never #collect what we are #data

E.g. for searching it’s between me and the engine perform this searching. Not between me and Mozilla. Collecting data under license on everything going through a browser is a big issue and these terms give you permission you to do that.

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This comes at the same time as you are removing language from the FAQ about selling personal data. (Old string expires 25-04-2025, so this is coming in 2 months apparently.)

‎bedrock/firefox/templates/firefox/faq.html
Old:
Yep! The { -brand-name-firefox-browser } is free. Super free, actually. No hidden costs or anything. You don’t pay anything to use it, and we don’t sell your personal data.
New:
Yep! The { -brand-name-firefox-browser } is free. Super free, actually. No hidden costs or anything. You don’t pay anything to use it.

It definitely feels like a rug pull.

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And this underscores everything we need to know about their intent... The fact they will come on here and lie about intentions also tells me everything about what I need to without an abrupt about face from Mozilla.

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No. This doesn't even pass the smell test. Right now, at this very moment, Firefox is a fully functional web browser with a fully functional search feature without requiring users agree to these "Terms of Use". If Mozilla is preparing to finally pull a total 180 on just about every principle it's held for an open web, just say so. We're not stupid.

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You're going to spy on us, monitor us, harvest our browsing information in violation of our privacy.

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The ToU clearly states what you just said it didn't. Either you're reading comprehension level is of toddler age, or you are lying. Any addendum to the ToU without specifically striking the offending verbiage means absolutely nothing. People are no longer ignorant or too lazy to read the fine print. You're about to lose thousands of users and Forefox will gobthe way of the Netscape browser

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I don't use Google for Searches. All the Search box should do is pass it on to the Search Service. There's no need for an explicit licence.

Nor is it acceptable to require an absolute licence to enter data into a third party application using a browser.

No one needs to grant a licence to an Editor to edit files on a Desktop.

This is an overreach and an unfair Contract Term.

S. P. Lucy

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The word "we" isn't helpful here. Is it being used as some kind of a personification of the locally running code of the browser? Or does it refer to Mozilla-provided services that use my data?

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> We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible.

That's a load of crap and you know it. "Basic functionality" is to download and render webpages.

> Without it, we couldn’t use information typed into Firefox to perform your searches, for example.

I do not WANT you to use that information. It doesn't belong on your servers or anyone elses.

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Can you clarify it in the legal document and not on some blog?

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We do not want things explained to us in a blogpost, we want clear license that explicitely says how the data will and won't be used.

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What is an example of information we are uploading or inputting through Firefox that Mozilla needs a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use?

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I've been using BetterFox as just a config file injection into Firefox for awhile and been happy with it. Improves performance and security, and knocks out all of the ads and super annoying AI crap.

Although now if their TOS is really changing as much as they say it is I have no idea if this is still really working or would just be hiding whats going on.

Going to think about transitioning this week on everything to WaterFox which seems like a solid fork of Firefox that is patently less evil than whatever is going on here

https://www.waterfox.net/

and

https://github.com/yokoffing/Betterfox/blob/main/Securefox.js

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Ordinary people ARE NOT LAWYERS. And we cannot read and actually understand massive blocks of legal jargon constantly presented to us during the course of operating a device. Unfortunately, every company today has discovered that they can bury a fifty page long legal document in a link on any app or website and people will click "OK" to it our of a sense of learned helplessness. That is part of the reason some of us prefer open source software.

One of the worst things all such services contain are provisions like this one: "Every once in a while, Mozilla may decide to update these Terms. We will post the updated Terms online. We will take your continued use of Firefox as acceptance of such changes. We will post an effective date at the top of this page to make it clear when we made our most recent update"

This is basically saying that every single time I use Firefox, it's apparently my job to go look up your terms of service and determine if they have changed since the last time I used it, and see if I am still OK with the new terms.

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What we want is a GUARANTEE that you won't share or sell our data. Mozilla previously promised me that your product had "no shady privacy notices or advertiser backdoors"

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You give Mozilla all rights necessary to operate Firefox, including processing data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice, as well as acting on your behalf to help you navigate the internet. When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.
https://www.mozilla.org/privacy/firefox/

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You want a license to something I wrote in an email while logged into webmail though Firefox? That looks like it would be covered by the current wording, and that's NOT ACCEPTABLE.

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I am using Firefox for two reasons, only: uBlock origin (MANIFEST V2) and privacy. They are mission critical.

I would like to see a build of Firefox with no AI – it adds zero value that prioritizes privacy and does not upload data to Firefox ever, under any circumstances, except when I authorize that (for example, in a crash dialog).

A browser that works that way and has no such features is more valuable than a browser that adds useless features and suddenly requires ToU and uploads data into foreign countries.
This is becoming more important every day the US of A slides deeper into fascism.

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Unethical. You’ve given me the task this weekend of migrating my bookmarks and leaving your browser.

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"acting on your behalf" sounds incredibly broad. This could be construed to mean that we are giving FireFox permission to make purchases or do things with potential legal implications "on our behalf".

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