Mozilla has responded to the rebound from users through the new terms of use of Firefox Web browsers, with critics calling for over-broad languages that seem to give browser manufacturers the right to any data you enter or upload. The company said the new term is not a change in Mozilla’s use of data, but rather formalizes its relationship with users by clearly stating what users agree to when using Firefox.
Wednesday, browser Introduced the manufacturer A new one terms of use And update Privacy Notice For Firefox, it said it wants to provide users with more transparency about their rights and permissions in the agreement and provide a more detailed explanation of their data practices.
“We try to make these easy to read and understand – there will be no surprises in the way we operate or the way our products work,” the company’s blog post said.
However, there is some confusion about this – in fact, the company had to update its blog post to state that its terms would not grant Mozilla’s user data ownership or use rights beyond the ones stated in the privacy statement.
Users who read the new term are upset by these changes, which suggests a vague and seemingly all-encompassing language Mozilla uses (emphasizing ours): “When you upload or enter information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a non-sexual, royalty-free, global license to use the information To help you navigate, experience and interact with online content while using Firefox instructions. ”
As number of critic tip Come out, this statement seems to be quite widespread.
Brendan Eich, co-founder and CEO of rival browser maker Brave Software, responds in Mozilla’s Updated Terms by writing “WTF” Posts on x. He also suggested that Mozilla’s wording relate to business hubs to allow Firefox to monetize data for AI and other uses.
TechCrunch asked Mozilla to clarify whether the current terminology means providing user data to AI companies or advertisers. The company told us that when using its AI capabilities, its privacy statement still applies and that the content data is not sent to Mozilla or elsewhere. Additionally, the data it shares with advertisers is de-identified.
“These changes are not driven by Mozilla’s desire to use people’s data for AI or sell it to advertisers,” Mozilla spokesman Daniel said in an email to TechCrunch. “As it says on the terms of use, we require users to license their data to operate Firefox, ‘You indicate when using Firefox.” This means that our ability to use data is still limited by what we disclose in our privacy notices. ”
Firefox may collect technical and interactive data on how to use AI chatbots, the privacy statement said.
A spokesperson told TechCrunch that if a user chooses to use Firefox to use a third-party AI chatbot, the third party will process their data according to its own policies. Other AI features in Firefox run locally on the user’s device and do not send “content data” to Mozilla or elsewhere, a spokesperson said.
Mozilla also sheds light on how it works with advertisers and explains that it does sell ads in Firefox, part of the funding development of IT for browser development.
“This is Mozilla’s focus is on building privacy-protecting advertising products to improve best practices across the industry,” the spokesperson said. “If we provide ads on Firefox (such as new tab pages), we only collect and share the data listed in the privacy notice, which can only be shared with the advertising partners on a de-identified or aggregated basis.”
The company said users can choose to process data for advertising purposes by turning off two settings related to “technology and interactive data” desktop and Mobile at any time.
Mozilla also further clarifies why it uses certain terms, saying the term “non-ranking” is used to indicate that Mozilla does not want user data to be exclusively licensed, as users should be able to use that data to do other things as well.
The reason for using “royalty-free” is because Firefox is free and neither Mozilla nor users should owe each other money in exchange for processing data to provide a browser. The reason why we use “global” is because Firefox is available globally and provides access to the global Internet.
While Mozilla guarantees that the new policy does not change how Mozilla is used, one may continue to question why the deadline is used in such a wide range of language. As a result, some people may use their browser elsewhere.
This could be bad news for Firefox. Its browser has only 2.54% share In the global browser market, it lags behind Chrome (67%), Safari (17.95%) and Edge (5.2%).
