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Mozilla Responds to User Concerns Over Updated Terms of Use

Update at 10:20 pm ET: In response to user backlash, Mozilla has revised its license language concerning the use of data in Firefox. The updated communication states, “You give Mozilla the rights necessary to operate Firefox. This includes processing your data as we describe in the Firefox Privacy Notice. It also includes a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license for the purpose of doing as you request with the content you input in Firefox. This does not give Mozilla any ownership in that content.”

Mozilla faced criticism following a discussion initiated by an employee on connect.mozilla.org, where users were asked for feedback regarding the new terms. One user remarked, “This isn’t a question of messaging or clarifying. You cannot ask your users to give you these broad rights to their data. This agreement, as currently written, is not acceptable.”

The introduction of new terms and an updated privacy policy was detailed in a blog post on Wednesday. After receiving negative feedback, Mozilla provided additional clarification stating that the company requires “a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible. Without it, we couldn’t use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything other than what is described in the Privacy Notice.”

Per the privacy notice, one aspect of data usage pertains to users’ location information. Mozilla asserts that it anonymizes this data while granting users the option to disable the functionality entirely:

Mozilla may obtain location-related search terms (for instance, if a user searches for “Boston”) and may share this information with partners to offer recommended and sponsored content. However, Mozilla clarifies that it cannot link these keyword searches to individual users after the search suggestion is provided, and partners will not be able to associate these suggestions with specific individuals. Users can deactivate this feature at any time by turning off Sponsored Suggestions—further details can be found on the Firefox Support page.

Despite Mozilla’s reassurances regarding the necessity of the license for basic functionality, some users expressed skepticism. A response capturing this sentiment noted, “That’s a load of crap and you know it. ‘Basic functionality’ is to download and render webpages.”

Source
arstechnica.com