Firefox Backs From Promise to Never Sell User Data, Revises Terms After Backlash
The terms have been updated, but the damage is done.
Mozilla updated Firefox’s Terms of Use last week, but it came under fire when critics were quick to point out that the wording appeared to grant Mozilla overly broad rights to user data. This, to Firefox’s user-base, was unacceptable, as it undermined their primary image of the browser as a cornerstone of trust and privacy.
Mozilla Introduces “Terms of Use” to Firefox, Faces Backlash Over Unclear Language
The criticism stemmed from Mozilla’s confusing jargon in drafting its new terms, specifically with the way they handled user data. To most, accepting these terms was interpreted as having to give Mozilla complete freedom over whatever they wanted to do with their data. This “data” was anything that the user inputs or uploads into Firefox.
The section from Firefox’s new Terms of Use, which was dubbed troublesome, is as follows:
When you upload or input information through Firefox, you hereby grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, worldwide license to use that information to help you navigate, experience, and interact with online content as you indicate with your use of Firefox.
Mozilla had also recently removed a section from its FAQ that explicitly stated it would not sell user data. Critics pointed to this as evidence that the company might sell user data to advertisers. The section previously stated:
Does Firefox sell your personal data?
Nope. Never have, never will. And we protect you from many of the advertisers who do. Firefox products are designed to protect your privacy. That’s a promise.
– Archived version of Firefox’s FAQ page.
Mozilla Revises Firefox’s Terms of Use, Clarifies That It Does Not Sell User Data
In light of the backlash, Mozilla has re-written its “Terms of Use” to better word their new policies. In the updated document, they mentioned that the change is to be more transparent in allowing users to give the company rights only to operate the service and not to use it elsewhere. They’ve emphasized on how these terms don’t grant Mozilla complete ownership of a user’s data.
The updated terms state:
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.
For the removal of the FAQ page, Mozilla has explained that this was because in some legal settings, “sale” is defined in a very “broad” manner. It, however, didn’t mention what these “legal settings” were.
Mozilla doesn’t sell data about you (in the way that most people think about “selling data”), and we don’t buy data about you. Since we strive for transparency, and the LEGAL definition of “sale of data” is extremely broad in some places, we’ve had to step back from making the definitive statements you know and love. We still put a lot of work into making sure that the data that we share with our partners (which we need to do to make Firefox commercially viable) is stripped of any identifying information, or shared only in the aggregate, or is put through our privacy preserving technologies (like OHTTP).
– Exceprt from Firefox’s FAQ
The Shift is Evident.
Time in and again, discussion has sprung up on online forums regarding how Mozilla, being non-profit, would sustain itself. With the way the entire situation has escalated in the past week or so, it appears the leadership has taken some bold and difficult decisions, potentially undermining the brand-image it has set over the past two decades, or so.
Even with Mozilla trying to clarify their stance, it’s obvious how the position they’re taking is to dub the user itself as the one “misunderstanding” the terms. Firefox removing bits of its “promises” for commitment to privacy with unclear use of language in a Terms of Service agreement clearly points to a shift in what the company stands for.
This is all we know for now, but rest assured that we will keep you updated as new information becomes available.
