This is very frustrating. It becomes impossible to use the web in a privacy conscious way. I know that Firefox wasn't perfect, but it was the best we had, and I have been a loyal user, despite minor quirks and annoyances. And now this… Guess will have to find another browser.
Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
351–360 of 1001 posts
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#352It's fascinating how any Firefox thread here inevitably devolves into accusations that Mozilla has abandoned users and a push to switch to alternatives, despite Mozilla working in the interest of users to a infinitely greater degree than any other major browser vendor.
It’s about expectations. In very simple language: people expect Microsoft and Google to track the hell out of them. But Mozilla says they are your friend and respects privacy, but then their actions speak the opposite. A betrayal from a friend is harder to handle than a blow from an enemy.
Mozilla's goals are still much more aligned with my own than any other browser vendor. Not even close. It's not a betrayal, it's a difference of opinion between friends.
Edit: If that. I personally think this Terms of Use thing is a storm in a teacup.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#353It's fascinating how any Firefox thread here inevitably devolves into accusations that Mozilla has abandoned users and a push to switch to alternatives, despite Mozilla working in the interest of users to a infinitely greater degree than any other major browser vendor.
Actions speak louder than words. Firefox (including derivatives) is by far the most fingerprint resistant and adblock friendly webbrowser there is. In terms of features, it's very rich and always improving. Mozilla also maintains arguably the best web development resource there is, which is MDN. Mozilla's internal problems aside, some people really don't appreciate how successful Firefox, Thunderbird and MDN have bee…
"Actions speak louder than words. "
Indeed. Talking about privacy and having spyware and ads activated by default and now this probably to legally safeguard this and more speak a very clear language.
The only reason to still use FF is indeed, that the competition is worse in this regard.
But that will change, once Ladybird becomes mature enough.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#354The 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…
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.
Confused. What do Firefox's terms of service have to do with puritanism ? Have Firefox developers become puritanist or something ? That would be extremely surprising if true. Any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) to this ?
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
[flagged]
Do you think pornography is harmful to you, and can it be inferred that pornography is also harmful to others?
This is the reason why your viewpoint is not accepted by others
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#356It's fascinating how any Firefox thread here inevitably devolves into accusations that Mozilla has abandoned users and a push to switch to alternatives, despite Mozilla working in the interest of users to a infinitely greater degree than any other major browser vendor.
It’s about expectations. In very simple language: people expect Microsoft and Google to track the hell out of them. But Mozilla says they are your friend and respects privacy, but then their actions speak the opposite. A betrayal from a friend is harder to handle than a blow from an enemy.
The same effect applies to political parties. The people that care about X focus their complaints to the party that is trying to address issues with X.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#357I'm in two minds about this. On the one hand I just want Firefox to keep being a free software web browser that I can trust. But on the other hand I realise Firefox isn't some hobby project and competing with Google isn't cheap. They already take money from Google and this could be shut off at any time. How can Firefox be independent if it doesn't have some revenue?
Unfortunately they've been stupid and blurred the lines between Firefox the browser and Firefox the "web platform". I don't think anyone would be too concerned if this was clearly about the web platform bit.
Maybe we need a smaller GPL browser that doesn't have the fancy stuff but can actually be maintained by the community. Yeah it won't with with a bunch of "web apps", but it will still provide access to information. This is also why if you are making websites you need to make sure it works without js etc. Otherwise you're basically forcing people to use adware.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
Let's not forget this post: https://web.archive.org/web/20210109032814/https://blog.mozi...
What’s wrong with transparency for advertisements? If you take offense to the “boosting” of news sites, I see the point but now we have Elon arbitrarily boosting his own content on X. Not sure how you end up solving that issue other than perhaps a more transparent system like the original Birdwatch.
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Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#359Title 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…
Given that Mozilla updated their site a couple days ago to remove any wording along the lines of "Firefox will never sell your data to advertisers" when a flag associated with the new Firefox terms of use is enabled (see https://github.com/mozilla/bedrock/commit/d459addab846d8144b... ), I'm not so sure that this is a CYA about standard web browser usage.
> remove any wording along the lines of "Firefox will never sell your data to advertisers"
You mean wording like this?
""Mozilla doesn’t sell data about you (in the way that most people think about “selling data“), and we don’t buy data about you. Since we strive for transparency, and the LEGAL definition of “sale of data“ is extremely broad in some places, we’ve had to step back from making the definitive statements you know and love."
Which is contained in both the link you provided, and on their official Privacy FAQ: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/faq/
I'm really confused how you can possibly claim that they removed the wording when it's right there for you.
Re: Introducing a terms of use and updated privacy notice for Firefox
#360I'm shocked when in 2025 the term "you stay in control" regarding browser emerges as something exclusive. When a web page or a program is downloaded to my computer I cannot imagine anything else, yet every major company tries to do something opposed - take the control from me as soon as possible.
My mental model of a browser is the same as of any tool, as a hammer, purely defined by its technical capabilities to do a job, like to display a website and offer basic functionality like for saving a bookmark.
The very idea of an entity called "we", an anonymous and ever-changing cast of people managing "responsible defaults" and "simple tools to manage your data" and communicating it on their terms, making me try and keep up, is alien to this idea. They lay their hands on our data; want to know how exactly? Follow several links to this page:
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/privacy/firefox/#notice
The page in its tone trivializes the entire deal and is just another EULA and as such could just as well be presented in a small textbox in all-caps. It's more than the average user will ever read, and way too vague anyway.
"Be informed about what data we process about you, why and who it’s shared with (that’s this Notice!)" they say, but
...how about you show the entire dataset compiled about any user with information who is using it and for what exactly (excluding truly secret law enforcement requests). Everyone involved would be mortified with shame.