this post was submitted on 03 Apr 2025
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Finally, Mozilla is finally doing something innovative for once. Stalwart is freaking awesome.
Collecting more data to sell them to 3rd parties?
If you're referring to that fuckup with the ToS or whatever, that's not what they've started doing. You can verify this by their Privacy Policy, which hasn't changed in almost a year.
But if you are pointing to other examples, I'm open to learning.
Mozilla's recent blog posts explicitly highlight that they are investing in ads for short-term revenue growth. So when they go on to remove the ToS statement about not selling user data, that suggests to me that their strategy is in fact to collect and sell user data.
Perhaps they aren't doing that yet, but signs are pointing in that direction. So that does make me reluctant to share any data with them.
I understand that, but what they do with user data is governed by their Privacy Policy, which again, is unchanged. The ads they buy are the same Sponsored ones that show up on blank tabs—the ones that have been there since before they made that change.
They made the change to the ToS, because a California law expanded the definition of "sale/sell" beyond what most people understand the word to mean. There's enough vaguery in the wording of the law that the way Firefox works, it could land Mozilla in hot water the way the ToS were worded. It's stupid, Mozilla did probably the worst job possible communicating why they were making the change, and the internet freaked out.
I'm not saying you shouldn't leave. That's up to you. I've been running LibreWolf since then, because a company that has $37M in investments and pays their CEO $8M should have the means to have a decent marketing team, one that could warn them it would be stupid to abruptly cut out a section on selling user data. However, it's simply not true that they've suddenly joined ranks with the likes of Google.
Again, do what you want, but I hope people do it because they've been informed about the facts, not because the internet brought out the pitchforks again.
Exactly to that. But I don't care. Believe what you want. I've DeMozillad myself long ago. Couldn't care less.
I mean, you clearly care
That's fine. Do what you want. I'm not here to judge your choices, just point out that Mozilla only fucked up the communication, not the policy itself.