Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Firefox new terms of use. They sell your data now

russell_314

russell_314

macrumors 604
Original poster
Feb 10, 2019
7,537
11,819
USA
So what does everyone think of the newly created Firefox “Terms of use”? Basically they now say they own all data that you send and receive through their browser and can share it with anyone. My best guess is they’re going to use it to train AI, but who knows. There’s a whole lot more that’s explained in this video and it’s well worth watching if you use Firefox.

Are you guys going to keep using Firefox or switch to another browser? I really dug in with Firefox because it’s the only non-chromium browser I’m aware of that’s not Safari. This is really disappointing, but I’m going to have to ditch it because no way will I agree to this non-privacy change.



Edit: Updated the title because Firefox clearly stated they do not own your data with their latest press release. I don’t want to confuse any Firefox users with wrong information.



I did not see this discussed anywhere else and not even sure where to put it but Firefox is a Mac app so I guess here. If it needs to be moved, mods please move it thanks.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: LionTeeth and MacHeritage
Yawn, seen this T&C panic a million times over. A non-exclusive license does not mean they 'own' your data. It's the same license you give to every other company when you expect them to transmit your content over the Internet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tagbert
I've been playing with Zen browser recently. It's a fork of Firefox but still in beta. It's got a few bugs, but usable as a daily driver.

Tried IceCat, LibreWolf, and some other odd forks here and there. They're all rough and not as polished or easy to use out of the box.

I prefer to avoid Chromium based browsers after deprecating Manifest V2, though Brave is still supporting it for now.

I'm not happy about the changes at Firefox. I resent the notion that browsers and tech companies can use and sell our data as they see fit.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Michaelgtrusa, Queen6, bingefeller and 1 other person
I find it interesting how some think this is a nothing burger but it's a major shift in their privacy policy. They also removed the part where they said they will not sell your data. My guess is Firefox is in financial trouble so they're trying to make money by less than honorable means. Just like Brave got caught doing it a while back. I guess this is the world we live in today.

I prefer to have a separate browser on my Mac for financial stuff and general web browsing like YouTube. I don't want a Google Chrome based browser so I guess it's going to be Safari for everything now. I changed to Vivaldi on my iPhone since all browsers use the Apple WebKit engine but this is not available on macOS.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PhoenixDown, G5isAlive and S.B.G
S.B.G said:
I've been playing with Zen browser recently. It's a fork of Firefox but still in beta. It's got a few bugs, but usable as a daily driver.

Tried IceCat, LibreWolf, and some other odd forks here and there. They're all rough and not as polished or easy to use out of the box.

I prefer to avoid Chromium based browsers after deprecating Manifest V2, though Brave is still supporting it for now.

I'm not happy about the changes at Firefox. I resent the notion that browsers and tech companies can use and sell our data as they see fit.
Click to expand...
I might look into Zen. I know using some smaller browsers involves risk but it would just be for surfing the web on trusted sites. I use Safari for anything important
 
S.B.G said:
Tried IceCat, LibreWolf
Click to expand...
I circled back to LibreWolf once I figured out that installing the bin version is done quickly. I hated having to spend a long time compiling the browser or other software. LibreWolf is basically what Firefox should be and I'm now using it and happy again.

Louis Rossmann dropped a video last night going over Mozilla's financial statements, the CEO and Chairman pay while showing how they can't seem to pay their hosting bills...

 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: russell_314 and MBAir2010
You know, other than my Windows work laptops that have to use the Edge browser, I can't think of the last time I to used a browser other than Safari.

Have I been missing out on anything?
 
  • Like
Reactions: PhoenixDown
webkit said:
Mozilla addressed the changes and related concerns here:
blog.mozilla.org

An update on our Terms of Use | The Mozilla Blog

On Wednesday we shared that we’re introducing a new Terms of Use (TOU) and Privacy Notice for Firefox. Since then, we’ve been listening to some of our
blog.mozilla.org blog.mozilla.org
Click to expand...

Oh, they addressed them. Just like a politician would. There’s no reason they would remove “We promise not to sell your data” unless they were planning on selling your data.


mike.coulter said:
You know, other than my Windows work laptops that have to use the Edge browser, I can't think of the last time I to used a browser other than Safari.

Have I been missing out on anything?
Click to expand...

No, not really. It’s nice to have separate browsers for separate things so cookies don’t crossover and it makes a little bit harder to be tracked. Also for me, it’s organizational because I know Safari is for the work and serious stuff and Firefox was for YouTube, MacRumors and similar less serious stuff. You don’t need two different browsers, though or even more than the default that comes with your computer.


Pretty much every popular browser other than Safari and Firefox is a version of Google Chrome. Edge used to be its own thing, but it moved to the dark side. If you have Windows, there’s no Safari. I’m trying the Zen browser which is using the Gecko engine (Firefox). I’m not sure how much control Firefox has over this so that may be just a waste of time. I’m trying to be positive though!

I know someone’s going to lose their mind when I call chromium based browsers Google Chrome and I understand that’s severely oversimplifying it but the bottom line is Google controls the chromium project. They make it work to benefit their advertising business. I don’t want a browser made by a corporation that their main function is advertising. It’s perfectly fine if someone likes it and I won’t hate on someone‘s choices, but it’s just not for me.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: racerhomie, splitpea and Ben Sparrow
I use DDG. After seeing this thread, I read over the privacy policy and from what I can see, Firefox does not own your data nor do they have complete access to all your data while using the browser. I do think it is very important if wants to use Firefox, that one carefully reads over the settings options and be very careful what is toggled on, lest more data is given than intended.
 
  • Like
Reactions: splifingate, Brian33 and splitpea
russell_314 said:
I’m trying the Zen browser which is using the Gecko engine (Firefox). I’m not sure how much control Firefox has over this so that may be just a waste of time.
Click to expand...
None. Zen is a fork of Firefox and built by people unrelated to Mozilla. Firefox is open source which means anyone can fork it, customize it and distribute it as they wish.

github.com

GitHub - zen-browser/desktop: A calmer internet, without any gimmicks.

A calmer internet, without any gimmicks. Contribute to zen-browser/desktop development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
 
  • Like
Reactions: splifingate and russell_314
S.B.G said:
None. Zen is a fork of Firefox and built by people unrelated to Mozilla. Firefox is open source which means anyone can fork it, customize it and distribute it as they wish.

github.com

GitHub - zen-browser/desktop: A calmer internet, without any gimmicks.

A calmer internet, without any gimmicks. Contribute to zen-browser/desktop development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com github.com
Click to expand...
Is it not similar to how Google builds the chromium web engine then open sources it out for use in other browsers like Microsoft Edge and Brave? I realize Google doesn’t build in their specific advertising platforms into the chromium web engine, but they’ve done changes that make blocking advertisements more difficult. This is the one thing I liked about Firefox because it wasn’t associated with advertising or at least I didn’t think it was. Either way I will probably still use Zen because it has to be less of a resource hog than chromium browsers.


I guess everything has to make money and if you’re not making money, then you got a business so I understand maybe this change needed to happen. I don’t wish any bad for Firefox because even if they are just as bad as Google when it comes to data collection and advertisement, they will still be at least competition. Two versions of Google is better than just one version.
 
russell_314 said:
Is it not similar to how Google builds the chromium web engine then open sources it out for use in other browsers like Microsoft Edge and Brave? I realize Google doesn’t build in their specific advertising platforms into the chromium web engine, but they’ve done changes that make blocking advertisements more difficult. This is the one thing I liked about Firefox because it wasn’t associated with advertising or at least I didn’t think it was. Either way I will probably still use Zen because it has to be less of a resource hog than chromium browsers.


I guess everything has to make money and if you’re not making money, then you got a business so I understand maybe this change needed to happen. I don’t wish any bad for Firefox because even if they are just as bad as Google when it comes to data collection and advertisement, they will still be at least competition. Two versions of Google is better than just one version.
Click to expand...
Yep, same thing as Chromium project. Google deprecated Manifest v2 and moved to v3 which breaks uBlock Origin. There is a lite version of uBlock still works in v3.

The silly thing about Firefox is that Google gives them millions of dollars each year but still struggle to keep the company going it seems.
 
  • Sad
Reactions: russell_314
noanker said:
If you use it for work and deal with HIPAA-related content, I wonder if they're in violation of monitoring and storing that data?
Click to expand...

No. They’re not. Because HIPAA doesn’t apply in this case. It only applies to “covered entities” that use your medical info.

If you share medical information to a third party that didn’t ask for it, it doesn’t apply.

It doesn’t apply to you. It doesn’t apply to me. It doesn’t apply to your friends or family. It certainly doesn’t apply to browsers.

www.lawpf.com

HIPAA, not HIPPA: Common Misunderstandings and Clarifications of the Law

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an outpouring of information to the general public, much of it inaccurate. Healthcare related law has
www.lawpf.com www.lawpf.com
 
Eriamjh1138@DAN said:
No. They’re not. Because HIPAA doesn’t apply in this case. It only applies to “covered entities” that use your medical info.

If you share medical information to a third party that didn’t ask for it, it doesn’t apply.

It doesn’t apply to you. It doesn’t apply to me. It doesn’t apply to your friends or family. It certainly doesn’t apply to browsers.

www.lawpf.com

HIPAA, not HIPPA: Common Misunderstandings and Clarifications of the Law

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in an outpouring of information to the general public, much of it inaccurate. Healthcare related law has
www.lawpf.com www.lawpf.com
Click to expand...
You’re probably right. I’ve seen doctor sites have a Facebook pixel on them just to gather data to Facebook. The state of privacy in the USA is terrible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: S.B.G
I already deleted Firefox because I only use it for banking because for some reason my bank says Safari isn’t allowing cookies when it is. Now, I wish to find an alternative.
 
PBMB said:
Then what is this? I see "macOS 11+ 64bit" in the drop-down menu.
Click to expand...
I guess I should’ve clarified my statement. It’s not available using the Apple’s WebKit engine like it is on iPhone. Currently all browsers are required to use Apple’s browser engine so it doesn’t matter if you have Google Chrome on your iPhone it’s still using the same browser engine as Safari.

On macOS or Windows there is no such restriction. Vivaldi uses Google’s Chromium engine on macOS.
 
noanker said:
If you use it for work and deal with HIPAA-related content, I wonder if they're in violation of monitoring and storing that data?
Click to expand...

*splutter*

The personal-privacy train left that Station long-ago with the mass-adoption of Chromebooks in the Classroom.

I have no idea what's regularly used in Healthcare right now, but I imagine that we're seeing similar trends.

A simple (rather-awkward) edit to the TOS/AUP of a <3% browser-share probably doesn't blip the Corporate radar.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back