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Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

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Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#91

Post by lmorchard »

melicerte wrote: post #17
vegancap wrote: post #5

They're a business, just like anyone else. Unless we all start throwing thousands of donations at them, they have to find ways to monetise to keep up the awesome work they do. If it's both relevant and intuitive, then no harm done. Remember, your browsing history isn't exactly a big secret. That's why incognito modes exist in most browsers.

I understand nothing is free and my privacy matters. For that reason, I'm willing to make donations, even on a regular basis, instead of having ads.

Great, here you go! https://sendto.mozilla.org

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#92

Post by lmorchard »

FWIW, I work at Mozilla, but I don't work on this particular project. But, I care because I What I think a lot of folks are missing here is that this is an attempt to change how ads are done. Whether you like it or not, ads are how most of the web gets funded right now.

Yes, funding Mozilla would be nice. Even better would be if ads on the web in general were less intrusive and better respected privacy.

One of the things this does not do is send your browsing history to remote servers. Instead, the remote server sends you a pile of ads roughly based on your location & language. The browser decides locally what to show. That's a big change, shifting the bulk of the sensitive stuff to your own computer instead of black boxes in the cloud.

This isn't just your usual "slap a banner on it" ad network used in all the free mobile apps. And, if the model works in the browser, it might work on the web too.

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#94

Post by sfink »

kozukumi wrote: post #57
binarymax wrote: post #42

I hate ads. I love Mozilla. I understand Mozilla needs the money. I don't mind supporting them with cash. Why not have a freemium option for folks to subscribe to Firefox and hide the ads?

Freemium wouldn't work. There will be unofficial builds available with this kind of stuff removed available for free within hours of the official release. They could charge for services such as sync but again that is going to be difficult Chrome does it for free. I think Mozilla need to seriously look at how they are spending their money as it seems to be pretty insane some of their outgoings. I know they are trying…

> Freemium wouldn't work. There will be unofficial builds available with this kind of stuff removed available for free within hours of the official release.

Why? Anyone who would go to the bother of downloading a separate build (and worrying about whether it'll update itself properly) can surely click on the gear in the top right corner of the new tab page and uncheck a checkbox? (Or be like me and keep the new tab page blissfully blank. Far less distracting.)

I highly doubt the revenue from the ads will be significant compared to what Mozilla gets from Yahoo, at least not for a long time. This isn't about revenue; it's more like the old Firefox sync thing where it avoided sending unencrypted data anywhere. You could only decrypt client-side. Similarly, this is about trying out an ad model where the privacy-sensitive data stays client-side.

Perhaps it'll do better than old Sync did?

(full disclosure: I work for Mozilla on the JS engine. Sadly, though, I'm not one of those world-class JIT geniuses mentioned elsewhere in this thread. In fact, I'm a complete idiot. Please don't tell them.)

(And no, we can't survive on donations alone.)

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#95

Post by storrgie »

sayhello wrote: post #81
realusername wrote: post #15

I had nothing against the sponsoring in the new tab screen but this is a bit different. There is so much potential for backfire if they don't do it properly. But at the end, how is that different from Google who is also putting ads by analyzing your entire web history. The main problem is that it's quite hard to finance their business, they are trying to do new stuff in every direction to depend less on Google (new s…

Engineer on the Tiles team at Mozilla here. We're trying to create a new way for ads to be targeted. In the classical model, the server tracks wherever you've been on the internet. Basically, to show you relevant ads, at least one entity needs to know where you've been. What we're trying to achieve is similar, except there is no tracking. Most of the decisioning (e.g. which sites similar to the target group have you…

Can I simply ask 'why'? It seems like if Firefox has no method of guaranteeing that an add will be placed, there is no financial gain for the mozilla foundation.

Why would you even perceptually compromise user privacy. You have to realize there are many using your browser with expectations of privacy. If you perceptually damage this notion, you're going to loose mind share.

If this goes into firefox, I'll be looking for an alternative.

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#97

Post by sfink »

FooBarWidget wrote: post #20
ama729 wrote: post #9

Who in their right mind would push such a thing? How can they think it'll will win them any user? I have no words.

This isn't about winning users. It's about not dying. Web browsers are one of the most complicated pieces of software in human history. Skilled developers cost money, lots of money.

I doubt it. I'm guessing this won't bring in significant money for a while at least, and it'll lose users in the short term. Monetizing search, as with the Google now Yahoo deal, is where the money for developers comes from. This only makes sense if the goal is to shake things up. What its chances of success there are, and how positive that outcome would be, is still an unknown in my head. But Mozilla only exists to have an impact on the Web, so it kind of makes sense.

(I work for Mozilla, but have no special insight into this initiative.)

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#98

Post by sfink »

mmcru wrote: post #64

what a terrible change. i've spent the last week developing two firefox addons; now i regret that, because i'll never use a browser with embedded advertising.

Ok, then turn off the embedded advertising. Your users are going to continue seeing ads all over the web no matter what browser they use, and in fact will be tracked by advertisers (less so if they take steps to avoid it, but that's up to them.)

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#99

Post by dannypgh »

vegancap wrote: post #49
dannypgh wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Firefox isn't a business, it's an open source/free software project. Mozilla is a nonprofit entity which pays some people to work on it. This is an important distinction, no?

Not particularly, they still have to gain some form of revenue to keep their core ventures. Their revenue in 2012 for example was $311 million.

Firefox is not a "they" it is an "it." As a computer program, it has no obligation to Mozilla to make them money.

Re: Firefox will show ads on the new tab page based on browsing history

#100

Post by pdkl95 »

vdaniuk wrote: post #36
FooBarWidget wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Apparently, it's different from Google by showing ads without selling your personal information. Firefox fetches ads without sharing your history. https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1120311

Google doesn't sell your personal information, it provides access to your eyeballs.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/23/nsa-prism-costs...

They most certainly do when there are national security letters involved.

You may argue that this was not Google's fault - it is uncertain how much choice they had with regards to providing access for PRISM, and they're welcome to the tiny compensation they received. The point is that they had the data at all, thus allowing it to be copied y others, regardless of google's intentions

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