this post was submitted on 28 Feb 2025
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Firefox deletes promise to never sell personal data, asks users not to panic | Mozilla says it deleted promise because "sale of data" is defined broadly (arstechnica.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
316 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Firefox maker Mozilla deleted a promise to never sell its users' personal data and is trying to assure worried users that its approach to privacy hasn't fundamentally changed. Until recently, a Firefox FAQ promised that the browser maker never has and never will sell its users' personal data. An archived version from January 30 says:

Does Firefox sell your personal data?

Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That's a promise.

That promise is removed from the current version. There's also a notable change in a data privacy FAQ that used to say, "Mozilla doesn't sell data about you, and we don't buy data about you."

The data privacy FAQ now explains that Mozilla is no longer making blanket promises about not selling data because some legal jurisdictions define "sale" in a very broad way:

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. We still put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share with our partners (which we need to do to make Firefox commercially viable) is stripped of any identifying information, or shared only in the aggregate, or is put through our privacy preserving technologies (like OHTTP).

Mozilla didn't say which legal jurisdictions have these broad definitions.

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[–] mhague@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I don't get how something is allowed to be labeled "free" when the terms of usage make you barter your data.

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[–] nthavoc@lemmy.today 37 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I remember a time when Google wrote "Don't be evil" all over their stuff.....

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[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 54 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I'm about to get my tattoo removed wtf

[–] KrapKake@lemmy.world 37 points 2 days ago

Just get "RIP" tattooed under it.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 31 points 2 days ago (5 children)

If it's really you...

Wtf?

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[–] Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca 41 points 2 days ago

They can't just promise they "never will" and then get rid of it. People who used the service under the original agreement should still be able to claim that benefit since it was promising to never sell it.

[–] afk_strats@lemmy.world 77 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (39 children)

Oh for fuck's sake! List of Firefox alternatives:

Windows/Linux/MacOS:

Android:

iOS: ??

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[–] drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone 66 points 3 days ago (2 children)

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. We still put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share with our partners (which we need to do to make Firefox commercially viable)

So in other words we sell your data and get paid for it, and some countries won't let us lie about it.

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[–] HipsterTenZero@dormi.zone 50 points 3 days ago (1 children)

promises don't count if you delete them. everyone knows that

[–] LMurch@thelemmy.club 29 points 2 days ago (2 children)

"If I put my wedding ring in my pocket, it's not cheating..."

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[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 42 points 2 days ago

That clarification is not making me calm

[–] Blackmist@feddit.uk 18 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I mean you could argue that them defaulting to Google search is already them selling your data. Google definitely pay them for that.

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[–] wall_panel_96@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (5 children)

I use brave and librewolf, anybody know if those are still safe from this dort of thing? (Probably not I guess, so what browsers are left?)

[–] Ibaudia@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Librewolf is privacy-hardened so it's probably the best option. Brave is Chromium-based. Realistically though, all web browsers come with compromises, and internet anonymity is virtually impossible without unrealistic amounts of effort.

[–] vinay_clubsall@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Someone earlier said that brave was based on chrome and when google blocked ublock origin on Chrome, it would stop working on brave too.

[–] cultsuperstar@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

People don't like Brave because they believe it's a crypto scam, and the CEO is a douchebag. But Brave has said they'll continue to support extensions regardless of Google's change.

[–] gamer@lemm.ee 8 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Don't forget the CEO's worst crime: he's the inventor of javascript

[–] AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Clearly not someone you can trust.

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[–] JuxtaposedJaguar@lemmy.ml 31 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Mozilla is trying to increase their revenue by doing everything other than improving Firefox

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[–] Jimmycrackcrack@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

I haven't been presented with any Ts and C's. Do they apply if I already installed Firefox before this?

[–] FrostyCaveman@lemm.ee 21 points 2 days ago (12 children)

Gahhhh this is horrible

I spent some time switching to Librewolf this morning but at the end of the day, it having Firefox as the upstream means it’s all fragile and tenuous anyway

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[–] Solventbubbles@lemmy.world 18 points 2 days ago (8 children)

Son of a bitch I just got back into Firefox.

[–] CH3DD4R_G0BL1N@sh.itjust.works 28 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Get in loser, we’re going to librewolf apparently. Fuck me I’ve reached the age of seeing all the things I like die. I don’t even remember a time I didn’t use Firefox. God damn it

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[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

~~Don’t~~ be evil

[–] Litebit@lemmy.world 14 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

please pay me if you want to sell my data. At the end of the day I am a business and need to cover operating cost.

Is there an open source tool to generate fake user activity data for Firefox to consume?

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