Firefox Survey Finds Only 16% Feel In Control of Their Privacy Choices Online (mozilla.org) 33
Choosing your browser "is one of the most important digital decisions you can make, shaping how you experience the web, protect your data, and express yourself online," says the Firefox blog. They've urged readers to "take a stand for independence and control in your digital life."
But they also recently polled 8,000 adults in France, Germany, the UK and the U.S. on "how they navigate choice and control both online and offline" (attending in-person events in Chicago, Berlin, LA, and Munich, San Diego, Stuttgart): The survey, conducted by research agency YouGov, showcases a tension between people's desire to have control over their data and digital privacy, and the reality of the internet today — a reality defined by Big Tech platforms that make it difficult for people to exercise meaningful choice online:
— Only 16% feel in control of their privacy choices (highest in Germany at 21%)
— 24% feel it's "too late" because Big Tech already has too much control or knows too much about them. And 36% said the feeling of Big Tech companies knowing too much about them is frustrating — highest among respondents in the U.S. (43%) and the UK (40%)
— Practices respondents said frustrated them were Big Tech using their data to train AI without their permission (38%) and tracking their data without asking (47%; highest in U.S. — 55% and lowest in France — 39%)
And from our existing research on browser choice, we know more about how defaults that are hard to change and confusing settings can bury alternatives, limiting people's ability to choose for themselves — the real problem that fuels these dynamics.
Taken together our new and existing insights could also explain why, when asked which actions feel like the strongest expressions of their independence online, choosing not to share their data (44%) was among the top three responses in each country (46% in the UK; 45% in the U.S.; 44% in France; 39% in Germany)... We also see a powerful signal in how people think about choosing the communities and platforms they join — for 29% of respondents, this was one of their top three expressions of independence online.
"For Firefox, community has always been at the heart of what we do," says their VP of Global Marketing, "and we'll keep fighting to put real choice and control back in people's hands so the web once again feels like it belongs to the communities that shape it."
At TwitchCon in San Diego Firefox even launched a satirical new online card game with a privacy theme called Data War.
But they also recently polled 8,000 adults in France, Germany, the UK and the U.S. on "how they navigate choice and control both online and offline" (attending in-person events in Chicago, Berlin, LA, and Munich, San Diego, Stuttgart): The survey, conducted by research agency YouGov, showcases a tension between people's desire to have control over their data and digital privacy, and the reality of the internet today — a reality defined by Big Tech platforms that make it difficult for people to exercise meaningful choice online:
— Only 16% feel in control of their privacy choices (highest in Germany at 21%)
— 24% feel it's "too late" because Big Tech already has too much control or knows too much about them. And 36% said the feeling of Big Tech companies knowing too much about them is frustrating — highest among respondents in the U.S. (43%) and the UK (40%)
— Practices respondents said frustrated them were Big Tech using their data to train AI without their permission (38%) and tracking their data without asking (47%; highest in U.S. — 55% and lowest in France — 39%)
And from our existing research on browser choice, we know more about how defaults that are hard to change and confusing settings can bury alternatives, limiting people's ability to choose for themselves — the real problem that fuels these dynamics.
Taken together our new and existing insights could also explain why, when asked which actions feel like the strongest expressions of their independence online, choosing not to share their data (44%) was among the top three responses in each country (46% in the UK; 45% in the U.S.; 44% in France; 39% in Germany)... We also see a powerful signal in how people think about choosing the communities and platforms they join — for 29% of respondents, this was one of their top three expressions of independence online.
"For Firefox, community has always been at the heart of what we do," says their VP of Global Marketing, "and we'll keep fighting to put real choice and control back in people's hands so the web once again feels like it belongs to the communities that shape it."
At TwitchCon in San Diego Firefox even launched a satirical new online card game with a privacy theme called Data War.
Fox asks chickens how safe they feel. (Score:4, Insightful)
For Firefox, community has always been at the hear (Score:1, Insightful)
So we'll fuck up the UI and the extensions, add unwanted crap (translation, AI, pocket, VPN, etc.) and, generally, force them to find alternatives.
Re:For Firefox, community has always been at the h (Score:5, Informative)
>"So we'll fuck up the UI and the extensions, add unwanted crap (translation, AI, pocket, VPN, etc.) and, generally, force them to find alternatives."
This is getting so old.
1) They didn't "F* up" the UI, they changed it to be more like the other browsers. I don't like that, but a lot of it is customizable (far more than other browsers). And it is no WORSE than others.
2) They didn't "F* up" the extensions. They made necessary changes MANY YEARS AGO in order to roll out the much faster and threaded Quantum version of the renderer. The major/important extensions were all available either immediately or shortly after. Nothing else has broken extensions, since. Now go see what Google is trying to do with destroying ad-blocking extensions if you want actual examples of "F'ing up" extensions.
3) "Unwanted crap" was all *OPTIONAL*, every single one of those things could be turned off. And all of it was/is clearly documented.
4) "Force them to find alternatives" is completely irrational. All the alternatives ARE CHROM*. They are all similar UI, all LESS configurable than Firefox, and don't have any additional extensions. None are significantly faster, efficient, or more secure, and most are also worse for privacy. All are less freedom-oriented, less community-driven, less committed to open standards, and many are practically forced on users by their stupid OS or by major companies being lazy. So give that a rest, please.
Re:For Firefox, community has always been at the h (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
That is a good point. I am not sure why the AI stuff isn't yet exposed in the normal settings. I am hoping that was an oversight that will be corrected. Meanwhile....
browser.ml.enable false
browser.ml.chat.enabled false
Re: (Score:2)
2) Even accepting a major breaking change was necessary, it was absolutely not necessary to limit functionality -- again not being worse than Google doesn't mean they didn't fuck something up.
3) Defaults matter and the time, money, and effort spent on those was clearly detrimental to the core browser.
4) But constantly shrinking the margin by which they're better has cratered their market share and cr
Re: (Score:3)
1) Changing your UI to be more similar to a worse UI is fucking up that UI. The UI includes far more than the shape of the buttons or the complete disregard for a well designed scroll bar. One of the things they intentionally made worse in order to improve bullshit metrics of their Download toolbar button was the "Save File" vs "Open File" feature. Previously the "Open File" created a temp file that disappeared when you were done with it. This was really useful, such as when opening a bank statement th
Re: (Score:2)
>"There were a lot of UI things the old extensions could do that they no longer can."
That is true. And I have been critical of them for it. The stated reason was to prevent bugs and make things easier to maintain. Not sure I completely agree with that.
>"All these new features should have been provided as extensions"
Agreed. Although most of those things were rather small, and you can just disable them (so they don't use much RAM and no CPU).
>" about:config could have a description column but does
Re: For Firefox, community has always been at the (Score:2)
its too late (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Things like the GDPR got us these stupid cookie warnings on every website which are useless.
Sorry, but that is wrong. You can fully comply with the GDPR without cookie warnings. The GDPR does not mandate cookie notices. Cookie notices are malicious compliance by the surveillance-driven adtech industry.
If you are not tracking people, you don't need a cookie notice. Period.
If you are only using first-party cookies for functional reasons, you don't need a cookie notice. Period.
If you are using third-party cookies to track people and share their data with others, then you must have their consen
Started Using PiHole (Score:3)
I set up PiHole and between my Vizio TV and any use of Facebook, they account for 25% of blocked IPs so far. Slashdot has it's share in that bullshit, but I only check in every few days. It also seems that there are a few apps that have Google's DNS hard-coded in. I'm open to suggestions as to how to deal with that.
Now if only I could filter out all the AI crap . . .
Re: (Score:3)
that there are a few apps that have Google's DNS hard-coded in.
Thanks! I just added this to /etc/hosts.deny
ALL: 8.8.8.8
ALL: 8.8.4.4
ALL: 2001:4860:4860::8844
Re: (Score:3)
What about also blocking DoH providers? See https://github.com/stonerl/doh... [github.com]
Re: (Score:3)
I have NoScript and PrivacyBadger installed. Between them I think they do a pretty good job of blocking most of the tracking. I also open new windows in private browsing mode unless there's a good reason not to. Most sites I visit have no need to see what accounts I'm logged into.
This is a high maintenance way of browsing the web though, especially NoScript. I often go to a site and it doesn't load right. So I go to the NoScript menu and temporarily enable scripts from the domain for that site. But it
Re: (Score:2)
My goal with using PiHole is to make it a better experience for all my devices, not just my web browser. I have used NoScript, Adblock and PrivacyBadger for years, but that just affects my web browser.. What about my tablet. my phone, my smart TV? Those devices don't allow you access to install applications to guard your provacy. So far, I've been happy with PiHole, but I'll be exploring inserting it between my Verizon router and my home network.
It's YOUR choice (Score:2)
Use your REAL name and REAL email for your bank and your Council.
Nobody else needs it.
Your ISP, Amazon and the rest are quite content to bill your cat, mine has been doing it for 2 decades.
People who DON'T bill you, need even LESS data.
Sites who INSIST, consider YOU the PRODUCT, not the customer.
Of course (Score:4, Insightful)
>"Firefox Survey Finds Only 16% Feel In Control of Their Privacy Choices Online
People who use Firefox are already in a group of people more likely to be concerned about privacy (and open standards). It is probably one of the reasons they use Firefox instead of chrom*, because there are more controls and options and isn't run by some big ad company or other corporation (Google, Microsoft, etc). So it doesn't surprise me that when one surveys that group, they will be more likely to feel less in control of their privacy.
Re: (Score:2)
On Linux I use Firefox and Brave, on Android it is DuckDuckGo.
The browsers impact is quite small (Score:2)
Not only this (Score:3)
And from our existing research on browser choice, we know more about how defaults that are hard to change and confusing settings can bury alternatives, limiting people's ability to choose for themselves — the real problem that fuels these dynamics.
Not only that, but the kinds of bullshit companies do like changing your default browser back to the OS default on any point-release of an OS update pisses me off.
I'm looking at you, assholes at Apple!
"Took a little break about an hour ago" (Score:1)
took a look around, see which way the winds blow
Decided to stop believing anyone who uses the word "community".
That high? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah, the 16% that think they're in control are the ones who think that saying "no" to cookies preserves all of their privacy.
Privacy Concerns (Score:2)
They know any real crack in the wall will lead to them rapidly losing their unlimited power over data. That's also an abject fear of Palantir
Only one way to have privacy online (Score:2)
Dont go online. Your ISP, phone carrier, apps, web browsers, and operating systems are all monitoring what you do. Your VPN provider is too.
Gosh, wonder why (Score:2)