fastcompany.com
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Mozilla’s system only measures the success rate of ads—it doesn’t help companies target those ads—and it’s less susceptible to abuse, EFF’s Lena Cohen told @FastCompany@flipboard.com. “It’s much more privacy-preserving than Google’s version of the same feature.”

https://mastodon.social/@eff/112922761259324925

Privacy experts say the new toggle is mostly harmless, but Firefox users saw it as a betrayal.

“They made this technology for advertisers, specifically,” says Jonah Aragon, founder of the Privacy Guides website. “There’s no direct benefit to the user in creating this. It’s software that only serves a party other than the user.”

  • Vincent@feddit.nl
    0·
    3 months ago

    The main difference between Mozilla and Google is that Google is actually sucking up your data. For example, I can specifically mention that they’ve got stored where you log in often, what age they think you are, what gender, how rich you likely are, etc. Even if they’re completely honest about it, that’s not good. You can’t make such a list about Mozilla, and Mozilla doesn’t actively try to hide what they are doing (non-invasive measurement of ad performance).

    Of course, the average user doesn’t read the release notes. (I’d go even further: the average user doesn’t read anything.) But the only reason you know about PPA, is because Mozilla explicitly called it out in the release notes, after which some bloggers decided to make a stink.

    You’ve accused Mozilla of two separate things:

    1. Collecting personal data (but can’t say what data)
    2. Being sneaky about it (but they could just as well not have mentioned it in the release notes and you wouldn’t have known)
    • LWD@lemm.ee
      1·
      3 months ago

      So you agree with #1 but are upset I have not provided specifics… FakeSpot and Anonym privacy policies are downright evil, the specifics are there.

      For #2, you also agree with me, you just have a much lower ethical bar than I do for Mozilla. It’s always the Mozilla fans who act like it’s a terrible company…

      Regarding the claim that Mozilla is good and Google is bad, that’s based on a presumption. Considering all the terrible behavior Mozilla has engaged in, I see no reason to continue presuming it. It would be as clueless as taking Google at its word with “do no evil.”

      • Vincent@feddit.nl
        1·
        3 months ago

        So you agree with #1 but are upset I have not provided specifics…

        No; I have claimed that it doesn’t collect personal data. You’re disputing that claim, but if you can’t mention a single piece of data, then I’m not inclined to believe you. (Fakespot and Anonym are completely unrelated to PPA. I’m not necessarily interested in branching out to discussing those as well, though I expect that we’re more aligned on them anyway.)

        Regarding the claim that Mozilla is good and Google is bad, that’s based on a presumption.

        No, I’m claiming that Google’s actions in the past have been worse than Mozilla’s, and I have named concrete actions that Google has done that Mozilla has not.

        But go on, keep on telling people to avoid Mozilla, and see if that’ll bring us a better world.