Mozilla Hit With Privacy Complaint In EU Over Firefox Tracking Tech (techcrunch.com) 10
Mozilla has been hit with a complaint by EU privacy group noyb, accusing it of violating GDPR by tracking Firefox users by default without their consent. TechCrunch reports: Mozilla calls the feature at issue "Privacy Preserving Attribution" (PPA). But noyb argues this is misdirection. And if EU privacy regulators agree with the complaint the Firefox-maker could be slapped with orders to change tack -- or even face a penalty (the GDPR allows for fines of up to 4% of global revenue). "Contrary to its reassuring name, this technology allows Firefox to track user behaviour on websites," noyb wrote in a press release. "In essence, the browser is now controlling the tracking, rather than individual websites. While this might be an improvement compared to even more invasive cookie tracking, the company never asked its users if they wanted to enable it. Instead, Mozilla decided to turn it on by default once people installed a recent software update. This is particularly worrying because Mozilla generally has a reputation for being a privacy-friendly alternative when most other browsers are based on Google's Chromium."
Another component of noyb's objection is that Mozilla's move "doesn't replace cookies either" -- Firefox simply wouldn't have the market share and power to shift industry practices -- so all it's done is produce another additional way for websites to target ads. [...] The noyb-backed complaint (PDF), which has been filed with the Austrian data protection authority, accuses Mozilla of failing to inform users about the processing of their personal data and of using an opt-out -- rather than an affirmative "opt-in" -- mechanism. The privacy rights group also wants the regulator to order the deletion of all data collected so far. In a statement attributed to Christopher Hilton, its director of policy and corporate communications, Mozilla said that it has only conducted a "limited test" of a PPA prototype on its own websites.While acknowledging poor communication around the effort, the company emphasized that no user data has been collected or shared and expressed its commitment to engaging with stakeholders as it develops the technology further.
Another component of noyb's objection is that Mozilla's move "doesn't replace cookies either" -- Firefox simply wouldn't have the market share and power to shift industry practices -- so all it's done is produce another additional way for websites to target ads. [...] The noyb-backed complaint (PDF), which has been filed with the Austrian data protection authority, accuses Mozilla of failing to inform users about the processing of their personal data and of using an opt-out -- rather than an affirmative "opt-in" -- mechanism. The privacy rights group also wants the regulator to order the deletion of all data collected so far. In a statement attributed to Christopher Hilton, its director of policy and corporate communications, Mozilla said that it has only conducted a "limited test" of a PPA prototype on its own websites.While acknowledging poor communication around the effort, the company emphasized that no user data has been collected or shared and expressed its commitment to engaging with stakeholders as it develops the technology further.
Data insecurity. Your are being mislead (Score:1)
Most data insecurity, anonymity let downs are between the lower levels of presentation layer to presentation layer conversations. Something most applications have no or little say in....
Mozilla who? (Score:1)
Mozilla who?
Re: (Score:2)
TBF, he might be the legendary Edge enthusiast that is said to exist somewhere in the worls. Unless that's just the result of an assumed statistic aberration.
Re: Mozilla bought an ad company (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This post proves that you're far too stupid to participate in this discussion. Go away.
PCM? (Score:2)
Private click measurement has been around for 2 years, bit weird to get upset about Mozilla implementing their own flavour now.
Re: (Score:2)
The issue with Mozilla's implementation is that it relies on a third party aggregation service to collect reports and, well, aggregate them. Because it is the same company doing the collection, aggregation, and reporting back to the people running the ads, it puts them in a position where you have to trust them not to use or sell un-aggregated data.
Legally it is shaky ground because it's questionable if such data processing without explicit opt-in permission is acceptable under GDPR. And even if it is, the
howto disable (Score:2)
FF 130.0.1 flatpak on Debian here and although I don't recall changing the option, I checked and it is disabled.
At the risk of stating the obvious for those looking to check or disable: about:preferences#privacy or, easier, search "Advert" in prefs.