Hey Guys.

So I found this post while I was scrolling on privacy twitter... are any of this true?

I am just curious by the way and would like to get several perspectives on this. It would help if someone from Mozilla or knows the privacy policy replies here.

Here's the full text wall.

"MOZILLA FIREFOX ISN'T THE PRIVACY BROWSER YOU THINK IT IS

Just finished reading their entire privacy policy. Here's what they don't advertise:

- THEY TRACK YOUR SEARCHES
Every search query is sent to partners with your location and device data. They derive "categories" from your searches (travel, shopping, etc.) and share location keywords with advertising partners.

Buried in the policy: "Mozilla receives royalties" from search engines. Follow the money.

- THEY SERVE YOU PRIVACY-INVASIVE ADS
The New Tab page shows personalized ads based on your browsing behavior. Your data gets "de-identified" then shared with ad partners. They process browsing data locally on your device, then send it to advertisers in aggregated form.

Sponsored content is enabled by default.

Ads aren't inherently bad - privacy-invasive tracking to serve ads is the problem.

- YOU CAN'T FULLY OPT OUT
Even when you disable telemetry, the "Daily Usage Ping" continues running. Direct quote from their policy: "deselecting telemetry will not impact the Daily Usage Ping."

Some data collection persists regardless of your settings.

- THEY TRACK YOUR SHOPPING
Review Checker monitors which products you view on Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy. When you enable this feature, sponsored product recommendations are automatically turned on.

- YOUR AI CONVERSATIONS AREN'T PRIVATE
Third-party AI chatbot integration means your conversations go directly to ChatGPT, Claude, or whoever you select. Mozilla's own words: "we do not have access to your conversations" - because the third parties do.

- THE BUSINESS MODEL IS THE PROBLEM
Mozilla's revenue comes from: Search engine royalties, Advertising partnerships, Sponsored content deals

When your income depends on data-sharing arrangements, privacy becomes a marketing message, not a principle.

Don't trust the marketing. Read the actual privacy policies. Mozilla makes beautiful statements about internet health while quietly building surveillance-based advertising into Firefox.

(Archived here: archive.today/1cXAK - because privacy policies change without warning)"

and here's the reply

"It gets worse.

Mozilla recently shipped a feature called "Privacy-Preserving Attribution" (PPA) that tracks ad impressions and conversions directly in your browser. 

- IT WAS CO-DESIGNED WITH META
Yes, Facebook's parent company helped design Firefox's new ad measurement system. Let that sink in. The company that built a surveillance empire is now helping Mozilla "preserve privacy."

- IT'S ENABLED BY DEFAULT
PPA silently records ad impressions as you browse. If you buy something after seeing an ad, Firefox reports that conversion back to advertisers. Unless you go hunting through settings, you'd never know this is happening.

MOZILLA'S EXCUSE IS INSULTING
Their defense: showing users a consent dialog would be "user-hostile." 
Translation: we knew users would say no, so we didn't ask.

They literally argued that asking for permission to track your ad interactions would be bad for privacy. Because apparently consent dialogs are worse than secret tracking.

- THE TECHNICAL APPROACH IS EXPERIMENTAL
PPA uses differential privacy and multi-party computation - complex, unproven techniques operating on your browsing data. The system sends encrypted reports to third-party "aggregation services."

More complexity means more attack surface. More opportunities for vulnerabilities. More risk of privacy failures. 

Mozilla's entire justification is that the third-party advertising economy needs this. Their own words: the only way forward is to "collude with third-party advertisers and ad-tech providers."

They're not trying to protect you from ads. They're trying to make ads work better while claiming it's for your benefit.

USERS ARE THE GUINEA PIGS"

What do you think about this post?