379
Mozilla hit with privacy complaint over Firefox user tracking (www.reuters.com)
submitted 3 months ago by geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml to c/technology@lemmy.ml
110 comments fedilink hide all child comments

STOCKHOLM, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Vienna-based advocacy group NOYB on Wednesday said it has filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority against Mozilla accusing the Firefox browser maker of tracking user behaviour on websites without consent.

NOYB (None Of Your Business), the digital rights group founded by privacy activist Max Schrems, said Mozilla has enabled a so-called “privacy preserving attribution” feature that turned the browser into a tracking tool for websites without directly telling its users.

Mozilla had defended the feature, saying it wanted to help websites understand how their ads perform without collecting data about individual people. By offering what it called a non-invasive alternative to cross-site tracking, it hoped to significantly reduce collecting individual information.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 43 points 3 months ago

I think a big part of the problem is that they didn't show anyone a notification or an onboarding dialog or whatever about this feature, when it got introduced.

Firefox is still the superior browser in my opinion.

or the least bad, as I have been thinking about it lately

[-] LWD@lemm.ee 16 points 3 months ago

I think a big part of the problem is that they didn't show anyone a notification or an onboarding dialog or whatever about this feature, when it got introduced.

Right. Not only didn't they notify anybody, but they took to Reddit to defend the decision not to notify anybody:

we consider modal consent dialogs to be a user-hostile distraction from better defaults, and do not believe such an experience would have been an improvement here.

Which is strange, because Mozilla has no problem with popups in general.

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml -1 points 3 months ago

Yeah, as I said it was pretty lame how they added it in. I will repeat that I think it's still not as bad as how other mainstream browsers add unwanted features but I'm out of the loop there and could be wrong.

Strange, only once do I recall seeing a pop up from Firefox, which was letting me know another browser was trying to become my default browser which I did not do or want. So in that case it was useful, as it was Edge and I did not want Edge to be my default browser. That was years ago, back when I still used Windows. Not saying it doesn't happen of course, you have links I could check which I assume show it does, but I have not personally witnessed it happen in a long time.

[-] Maeve@kbin.earth 6 points 3 months ago

Librewolf

[-] lattrommi@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 months ago

That's probably the better way of putting it. As far as mainstream browsers go.

this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2024
379 points (98.0% liked)

Technology

35158 readers
185 users here now

This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.

Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.

Rules:

1: All Lemmy rules apply

2: Do not post low effort posts

3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff

4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.

5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)

6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist

7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
MinutePhrase@lemmy.ml