As a loyal user, I didn't quite see this coming.
Under `Browser Privacy`, I have `Enhanced Tracking Protection` set to `Strict`.
I had studies turned off, when I go to `about:studies` it explicitly says: "No new studies will run.".
I have `Tell web sites not to sell or share my data` checked.
I have `Send web sites a “Do Not Track” request` checked.
It seems like Mozilla still thought it was okay to automatically add a "Allow web sites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement" checkbox.
Yet with that all set, they seem okay to let it be checked by default, so they can send off my data!
They say:
"A small number of sites are going to test this and provide feedback to inform our standardization plans, and help us understand if this is likely to gain traction." - that sounds a lot like a study, and I've opted out of studies!
I did not consent, and as best I can tell, Mozilla has breached GDPR.
As best I can tell, Mozilla disregarded my preferences.
It seems they have violated these GDPR principles:
a lack of consent,
purpose limitation (unintended data use),
`Data protection by design and default` AKA `privacy by design` (by ignoring settings),
and right to object (disregarding preferences).
It is absolutely unfair to argue that it is not personal information about me.
It seems to me that they are lying, or at the very least twisting words so thin. My trust in them is vanishing.
There is no way to reliably verify their differential privacy, and even if there was, they still had no informed consent to collect the data and send it off.
To give controls to a user, and then totally ignore them, is what got Facebook in big trouble.
It really looks like Mozilla is not only not listening to explicitly stated user preferences, preferences that have been set intentionally, but it's outright ignoring them and doing the very opposite of what the users intention is!
If they thought that they had a good reason to do so, and that the ends justifies the means, they are so very wrong.
I have used Firefox for as long as it's existed.
For Mozilla, this is an almost sadistic own goal.
How did they think that this was going to be okay?
Did they think people would not find out?
There will have to be changes after this at Mozilla if they were to regain trust and I'm really sceptical they can do it.
I really want / wanted them to succeed but I don't see how.
I've supported Firefox as my daily-driver on desktop and laptop since 2016. I feel that a browser should be 100% open-source and used to feel FF also had it's USERS interest at heart. FF was what I relied on to continue to fight for internet privacy in your browser and the growing ad garbage on the web. FF + uBlock was great and made the web a joy for me. I would donate to FF if I could.
I've basically had enough of this. Commercialization has now infiltrated all browsers. There are none left (except for a few FF forks run by who knows). I put up with the many blunders FF has done over the past years like; "Mr Robot" incident, Tracking my default browser in Windows with a Scheduled Task that always comes back after updates, Studies are on-by-default, increasing tracking features added in that were Opt-Out and now THIS latest "anonymous" collection of my browsing habits sold to advertisers. This is appalling.
I'm tired of having to go through all the release notes and settings again to see what I have to disable this time on my own devices plus my clients FF installs and family I've recommended FF to. I can do that with Edge or Chrome.
I'm out FF. I uninstalled FF 128 from my PC fully today (and any others I help support) and will try out Vivaldi for a bit (they seem still pretty grounded DESPITE it not being 100% open-source). and if that doesn't meet my needs I will just use Edge. I'd try Brave but again that is an advertising company at this point that also pitches crypto.
It is a sad day for me. I really am holding out hope for Ladybird next at this point because I don't think FF ever goes back now to it's stand and to what it represented.
I did not consent, and as best I can tell, Mozilla has breached GDPR.
As best I can tell, Mozilla disregarded my preferences. It seems they have violated these GDPR principles: a lack of consent, purpose limitation (unintended data use), `Data protection by design and default` AKA `privacy by design` (by ignoring settings), and right to object (disregarding preferences).
It is absolutely unfair to argue that it is not personal information about me. It seems to me that they are lying, or at the very least twisting words so thin. My trust in them is vanishing.
There is no way to reliably verify their differential privacy, and even if there was, they still had no informed consent to collect the data and send it off.
To give controls to a user, and then totally ignore them, is what got Facebook in big trouble.
It really looks like Mozilla is not only not listening to explicitly stated user preferences, preferences that have been set intentionally, but it's outright ignoring them and doing the very opposite of what the users intention is!
If they thought that they had a good reason to do so, and that the ends justifies the means, they are so very wrong.
I have used Firefox for as long as it's existed. For Mozilla, this is an almost sadistic own goal. How did they think that this was going to be okay? Did they think people would not find out? There will have to be changes after this at Mozilla if they were to regain trust and I'm really sceptical they can do it.
I really want / wanted them to succeed but I don't see how.