Part of Firefox's userbase, mostly those using the browser because of its better privacy controls, will continue to criticize Mozilla unless the organization changes its approach to studies and Telemetry fundamentally. In 2016 I asked Mozilla to give users control over system add-ons in Firefox and I still believe that the organization should implement easy on/off controls for those in the browser similarly to what it has done with Shield Studies. There needs to be a rethinking about these experiments and how they are conducted. I truly understand the need for data to improve products and better address user needs and requirements but think that Mozilla is shooting itself in its own foot once more.
The release of the system add-on is controversial and so where other decisions Mozilla made in the past. While some users argue that this is not an issue at all, since Firefox just sends information about the Telemetry status, others see it as a privacy issue as other data is submitted to Mozilla automatically with the request (IP address). The main claims are that a) Mozilla makes it difficult to near impossible to prevent the installation of system add-ons, and b) that data is sent to Mozilla about the system even if Telemetry is turned off.
Mozilla has been criticized for installing the Telemetry Coverage add-on in Firefox installations, e.g. This measurement will not include a client identifier and will not be associated with our standard telemetry. Problem is that this is only mentioned on the Bugzilla page over on the Mozilla website and not in the add-on description according to Mozilla's announcement on the Mozilla blog. The reporting does not include a client identifier and it is not associated with Firefox Telemetry.įirefox users can create -out and set it to true to opt-out of this. The add-on reports data similar to the one below to Mozilla when it is installed: The add-on is automatically installed and designed to inform Mozilla whether Telemetry is enabled in the browser. Mozilla created the Telemetry Coverage system add-on and distributed it to 1% of the Firefox population.
0 kommentar(er)
