this post was submitted on 23 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

To be fair. Mozilla foundation is shady. They keep pushing things that don't follow their core mission. That try to expand their brand.

You can use Mozilla to build solid privacy respecting systems, but Firefox out of the box not so much. They're better than Google, but that's a low fucking bar.

Mullvad browser, Tor browser, mull for Android - all use the core Firefox open source engine, to make privacy respecting programs that work out of the box with privacy respecting defaults.

So I would say Mozilla is a good guy in this conversation, but not a saint.

[–] [email protected] 53 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Though they are transparent with the fact that they are doing it. I'm not a fan of it either, but it's not too shady when they're open about it IMO.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Fair enough, they aren't evil to be sure.

The Mozilla telemetry, pocket, Mozilla synchronization, experiments, the new tab page basically being an advertisement page. That leaves the sour taste in my mouth, so I don't trust them because of that... Shady good guy vibes:)

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (2 children)

They're doing what they think they need to justify their existence, and although I personally believe being just a great browser would be enough I appreciate their communication around their ventures. It's not great, but it's not like they're installing malware in the background.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (1 children)

And may I point out that just being a great browser hasn't worked out so well for Firefox so far. Unfortunately in today's day and age you have to promote yourself to stand out. Chrome is an abject piece of crap that actively spies on you and yet Google's PR has managed to convince the vast majority to use it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

It’s also worth noting that Chrome’s security model is much more robust than Firefox’s. Acting like Firefox is superior in every regard only serves to undercut Mozilla’s pleas for more contributors and funding.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

https://itsfoss.com/firefox-looking-glass-controversy/

They get pretty close sometimes. I respect their mojo, but I don't install vanilla Firefox anymore. On anything. For any reason. I don't trust them anymore.

I wish them the best, if I could donate directly to Firefox development I would, but it's impossible with them. So I don't. I donate to mullvad, I donate to the Tor project, and I donate to servo. That's what I can do to make sure we maintain an open and free web

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mullvad are a for profit company . Why do u donate to them ?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That's a great point. I totally thought they were non-profit. They're just so on brand with my personal ethos I just assumed.

But yeah checking they're not. Totally wrong about that. Thanks for pointing it out

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I dont get why everyone bitches about Pocket, tbh. Ive been a Pocket user for years and Mozilla's purchase of them has made them better if anything.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've always liked the idea of pocket and have tried to get into using it multiple times but sadly I'm a savage who hates even using bookmarks for some reason. I just keep all of it in my brain (which tends to mean I do not keep it at all).

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

It took me a long time to get used to pocket, not gonna lie. But once I did, I can't live without it.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

They keep trying to make money so they don't go under if/when Google pulls the plug on their easy money.