I think this probably isn't as big of a deal as people are making it out to be. But I find a certain kind of joy in Mozilla being judged on the worst possible interpretation of their terms of service, since they do that to others _all the time_ [1]. [1] https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/
Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
261–270 of 1001 posts
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#262The other WTF is here: Your use of Firefox must follow Mozilla’s Acceptable Use Policy, and you agree that you will not use Firefox to infringe anyone’s rights or violate any applicable laws or regulations. Acceptable Use Policy links to https://www.mozilla.org/about/legal/acceptable-use/ which says "You may not use any of Mozilla’s services to[...]Upload, download, transmit, display, or grant access to content that…
> It's against the Terms of Use to use Firefox to... watch porn? Firefox isn't a Mozilla service. The Mozilla services are things like account sync, or the review tool they use.
It's pretty odd if you aren't allowed to use their VPN to watch or share porn
- send unsolicited communications (for example cold emailing an employer about a job) - Deceive or mislead (for example inviting your brother over for a surprise party under false pretenses) - Purchase legal controlled products (for example sending the pharmacy a refill for your Xanax) - Collect email addresses without permission (for example putting together a list of emails to contact public officials)
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
So only bookmarks of porn sites if you have Sync active, sending porn tabs to a Firefox instance on another device, browsing porn while on the Mozilla VPN, or using Firefox Relay to sign up to a porn website with an anonymous email address Fine by me since I don't use a Mozilla account, but sounds to me like I shouldn't get a Mozilla account either
Bookmarks and tab URLs don’t contain porn, generally? References are not typically considered explicit, though certainly their language isn’t clear enough about that. If you bookmark a collection of data: / blob: links then that would be the outlier scenario where you shouldn’t use any third-party server-involved bookmark syncing service, as presumably they’ll all either break or ban you once they find you using thei…
Do URL stubs of porn titles count as explicitly sexual? They can get pretty raunchy
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't have to grant Word a license to what I type in it. This is a highly unusual clause that other software doesn't have. When software has to "phone home" to deliver the functionality you requested, then two things happen: One, a number of privacy regulations kick in, and they need to get you to agree to send your data to them. Two, they now get to move your data out of your control. I mean, you trust them today,…
A license grant like this is common in the context of review systems or forums or the like. For example if I go to addons.mozilla.org and post a review for an addon, Mozilla arguably needs a license grant like this to allow them to publish the review. And preferably they would want to word it in a way that then allows them to use the same review in print or a super bowl spot. The weird thing is that a) I don't think…
Imagine if on first startup Firefox offers you to show website recommendations. Maybe a prechecked checkbox. If you don't say no, they send anything you type in the address bar to some third party, that third party throws that in a recommendation system and spits out websites you may want to visit, which Firefox then shows in the new-tab page. This license grant would cover that. They would be using a license on content I input (all my keystrokes in the address bar) to help me experience online content (recommendations for new content) as I indicate (they asked). In principle recommending me websites based on all images I upload with Firefox would also be covered, though that's a bit far fetched.
Of course in the EU you'd probably have pretty strict consent requirements because of the GDPR, same with other jurisdictions with strong privacy protections. But in places with weak privacy protections the grant in question should cover all bases to pull something like this
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#265Earlier quoted context omitted.
We are under an attack by Puritanism that is quite astounding actually. And no one is doing anything. Everyone just keeps bending the knee. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/1hqqpbt/newest_ver... Some of the things that are happening are just from the threat of “something bad might come down from the new administration”. It’s so ridiculous.
The Puritans have been trying to ban porn here since the concept has existed, it's never stopped, and it's never going to stop. They're miserable and they want everyone else to be too. That's like most of their religion. Going to church, being ashamed of bodies, and judging people.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#266Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#267Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's against the Terms of Use to use Firefox to... watch porn? Firefox isn't a Mozilla service. The Mozilla services are things like account sync, or the review tool they use.
It's against ToS to watch R rated movies.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#268The problem with Firefox is it almost impossible to sell today (compared to 10 or 20 years ago). - It doesn't have better performance or security. - If you want better privacy and ad-blocking out of the box, Brave is the way to go. - The "supporting an independent implementation" argument doesn't really resonate anymore. I am wondering if the small market share it has left on desktop (especially in Europe and Germany…
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#269Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I don't have to grant Word a license to what I type in it. Yes you do. From Microsoft's Services Agreement [1]: > To the extent necessary to provide the Services to you and others, to protect you and the Services, and to improve Microsoft products and services, you grant to Microsoft a worldwide and royalty-free intellectual property license to use Your Content, for example, to make copies of, retain, transmit, ref…
Which for the record they absolutely need, for example if you write something in word, click the share button, copy the link and publish it in this forum. Microsoft is now publishing whatever you wrote in the document, and their lawyers want to make sure they are allowed to do that. Word versions that predate the share button probably wouldn't need the license grant. But since MS likes to limit the number of differen…
The Microsoft Services Agreement applies to your use of their online services, like OneDrive and SharePoint, as you say, and there's an explicit consent in the app and a giant off switch there. They employ dark patterns to push you strongly to use their online services, but it's still optional.
It should be readily obvious that choosing to use online sharing or storage features or submit reviews require the data you enter to be sent, shared, or stored thusly...
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#270Title is a complete lie/misleading. They get a license, not ownership. Let's dissect what it actually says, and we do it backwards, because given the discussion around this subject it seems like people space out or have their mind clouded by outrage before they get to the end of the sentence: > help you [do things] as you indicate with your use of Firefox. So this already only covers things that you indicate you want…
>Let's dissect what it actually says I don't believe that dissection is a good way to understand the implications of this clause. >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. Rather than go over this word-by-w…
"the data stays on your device and is not sent to Mozilla’s servers unless it says otherwise in this Notice."
... "When you perform a search in Firefox, your search query, device data and location data will be processed by your default search engine"
... "Mozilla derives the high level category [...] from keywords in that query [...] privacy preserving technologies such that Mozilla only learns that someone, somewhere, performed a search relating to a particular category, without knowing who."
... Review Checked, AI Chatbots, advertising on new tab page, etc.
So yea Firefox does so much they pretty much have to use your data, but it's not a blank cheque to do what they want.
[1] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/
Not so say I like some of those things - advertising and categorizing searches. But still, it's finite and explicit.