Privacy groups accuse Mozilla of tracking users without their consent in Firefox
NOYB, a European privacy protection organization based in Austria, announced on September 25, 2024 that it had filed a complaint with the Austrian Data Protection Authority (DPA) alleging that the privacy protection feature that Mozilla has implemented in Firefox since July is tracking users without their consent.
Firefox tracks you with “privacy preserving” feature
Mozilla accused of tracking users in Firefox without consent
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/mozilla-accused-of-tracking-users-in-firefox-without-consent/
Mozilla Faces Privacy Complaint for Enabling Tracking in Firefox Without User Consent
https://thehackernews.com/2024/09/mozilla-faces-privacy-complaint-for.html
The feature that has been accused of violating privacy this time is 'Privacy-Preserving Attribution (PPA),' which Mozilla developed in collaboration with Meta and was experimentally installed in Firefox 128 , released on July 9, 2024.
Here's how PPA works: First, when PPA is enabled, websites that serve ads can ask Firefox to store ad-related data in the browser as
Firefox then generates so-called conversion reports, which it sends to websites, and data about your actions, such as clicking on an ad and making a purchase, and your interests.
The reports are collected anonymously and in encrypted form, Mozilla explains, 'which improves user privacy by allowing individual sites to measure ad performance without collecting personal data .'
On the other hand, NOYB argues that while the cookie is less invasive than third-party cookies , which can track users directly, in reality it is similar to Google's Privacy Sandbox , a new tracking technology that has been criticized for being a violation of user rights protected by the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Felix Mykolisch, data protection lawyer at NOYB, said: 'By turning Firefox into an ad measurement tool, Mozilla has jumped on the bandwagon of the advertising industry's claim that it has the right to track users. Mozilla may have had good intentions, but the PPA is unlikely to replace cookies and other tracking tools; it will simply become another way to track users.'
The fact that PPAs are enabled by default in Firefox has also been criticized. Here's how to disable PPAs:
Firefox now collects user data for advertising purposes by default, here's how to disable it - GIGAZINE
In response to NOYB's criticism, Mozilla said, 'There's no question that we should have listened more to outside input in our efforts to improve online advertising, and we're committed to doing better in this area. We still believe the PPA is an important step toward improving privacy on the Internet, and we look forward to working with NOYB and others to clear up any confusion about our approach.'
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in Software, Posted by log1l_ks