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Yeah let us, Google's proxy, be one of the interrogators when we fight for the privacy of internet users. BTW did you see the super cool world domination mind c

Yeah let us, Google's proxy, be one of the interrogators when we fight for the privacy of internet users. BTW did you see the super cool world domination mind control fantasizing internal video? Amazing stuff!

mintplant 8y ago
Mozilla is hardly "Google's proxy".
- gaius 8y ago
  Aren’t they almost entirely funded by Google?
  - dingo_bat 8y ago
    97% by their last financial report.
  - JackCh 8y ago
    Sometimes. My impression is that sometimes they're mostly funded by Yahoo instead, and other times perhaps Bing. But one way or the other they're always getting most of their money from one of the major search engines. So even when they have a contract with Yahoo, they have a financial interest in staying cozy with Google because when their contract with Yahoo expires they're going to take offers from both Yahoo and Google and, even if they ultimately decide to sign another contract with Yahoo, the offer they get from Yahoo will doubtlessly be competitive with whatever offer they receive from Google.
  - detaro 8y ago
    I believe there's currently no public information about that. They didn't get search engine payments from Google for several years, but with them replacing Yahoo with Google for US customers again it seems likely there's a new contract (although there were reports that the Yahoo contract had clauses that force Yahoo to continue paying them until 2019, so it's possible they just use that money right now)
    - Blahah 8y ago
      The Mozilla Foundation is a US 501c3, all their finances are public record. I believe the most recent filed financial statement is for 2016 [0]. See also the summary document, the 2016 State of Mozilla Report, for higher level information [1]. 0: https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2016/2016_Mozilla_Audited_Financial_Statement.pdf https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2016/2016_Mozilla_Au... 1: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2016/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2016/
      - detaro 8y ago
        Which is why we have no current information about this, since some of these changes happened afterwards.
- JackCh 8y ago
  Recent versions of Firefox have a feature called "Multi-Account Containers" that can be used to isolate websites from others. It can be used with any website, but the interface leaves something to be desired. Mozilla was good enough to publish an extension called "Facebook Container" that creates default settings for Containers to isolate Facebook from other websites, impeding Facebook's ability to track user activity across the wider internet. https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/facebook-container-extension/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/facebook-container-extensio... Great stuff! Where is the "Google Container" version? (There exists one, but it's not from Mozilla.) Could it be that Mozilla receives most of it's funding from search engines (including but not limited to Google), and even during years when Google isn't the default search engine it's still not in Mozilla's financial interest to burn that bridge? Maybe that's too cynical. Maybe it's too cynical to suggest that huge amounts of money could bias people. Or maybe it's unfair to suggest that being biased by google in this way makes them a "proxy" of google. Maybe. But the fact remains that Mozilla still isn't promoting a "Google Container" extension to protect users from Google.
  - xfitm3 8y ago
    Do you think Mozilla would promote the Google container extension if Google found itself in Facebook's position?
    - JackCh 8y ago
      Mozilla might publish and promote their own^ Google Container if the possibility of ever receiving the majority of their funding from Google was never on the table for them. I really doubt they'd ever do it otherwise. Skepticism of Google, while perhaps not currently as widespread as skepticism of Facebook, is nevertheless quite popular. Mozilla has a financial incentive to close their eyes to this. Mozilla releasing an extension that protects users from Facebook is easy because Mozilla receives minimal if any funding from Facebook, but Google is another matter entirely. ^ Many users are wary of third party firefox extensions because firefox extension permissions are so coarse: https://i.imgur.com/G1HuXgy.png https://i.imgur.com/G1HuXgy.png
JackCh 8y ago
> "BTW did you see the super cool world domination mind control fantasizing internal video?" Care to share?
- wpdev_63 8y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVVo14A_fo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVVo14A_fo The scary fact is that they do this to an extent with their ads.

mintplant 8y ago

Mozilla is hardly "Google's proxy".

gaius 8y ago
Aren’t they almost entirely funded by Google?
- dingo_bat 8y ago
  97% by their last financial report.
- JackCh 8y ago
  Sometimes. My impression is that sometimes they're mostly funded by Yahoo instead, and other times perhaps Bing. But one way or the other they're always getting most of their money from one of the major search engines. So even when they have a contract with Yahoo, they have a financial interest in staying cozy with Google because when their contract with Yahoo expires they're going to take offers from both Yahoo and Google and, even if they ultimately decide to sign another contract with Yahoo, the offer they get from Yahoo will doubtlessly be competitive with whatever offer they receive from Google.
- detaro 8y ago
  I believe there's currently no public information about that. They didn't get search engine payments from Google for several years, but with them replacing Yahoo with Google for US customers again it seems likely there's a new contract (although there were reports that the Yahoo contract had clauses that force Yahoo to continue paying them until 2019, so it's possible they just use that money right now)
  - Blahah 8y ago
    The Mozilla Foundation is a US 501c3, all their finances are public record. I believe the most recent filed financial statement is for 2016 [0]. See also the summary document, the 2016 State of Mozilla Report, for higher level information [1]. 0: https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2016/2016_Mozilla_Audited_Financial_Statement.pdf https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2016/2016_Mozilla_Au... 1: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2016/ https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/foundation/annualreport/2016/
    - detaro 8y ago
      Which is why we have no current information about this, since some of these changes happened afterwards.
JackCh 8y ago
Recent versions of Firefox have a feature called "Multi-Account Containers" that can be used to isolate websites from others. It can be used with any website, but the interface leaves something to be desired. Mozilla was good enough to publish an extension called "Facebook Container" that creates default settings for Containers to isolate Facebook from other websites, impeding Facebook's ability to track user activity across the wider internet. https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/facebook-container-extension/ https://blog.mozilla.org/firefox/facebook-container-extensio... Great stuff! Where is the "Google Container" version? (There exists one, but it's not from Mozilla.) Could it be that Mozilla receives most of it's funding from search engines (including but not limited to Google), and even during years when Google isn't the default search engine it's still not in Mozilla's financial interest to burn that bridge? Maybe that's too cynical. Maybe it's too cynical to suggest that huge amounts of money could bias people. Or maybe it's unfair to suggest that being biased by google in this way makes them a "proxy" of google. Maybe. But the fact remains that Mozilla still isn't promoting a "Google Container" extension to protect users from Google.
- xfitm3 8y ago
  Do you think Mozilla would promote the Google container extension if Google found itself in Facebook's position?
  - JackCh 8y ago
    Mozilla might publish and promote their own^ Google Container if the possibility of ever receiving the majority of their funding from Google was never on the table for them. I really doubt they'd ever do it otherwise. Skepticism of Google, while perhaps not currently as widespread as skepticism of Facebook, is nevertheless quite popular. Mozilla has a financial incentive to close their eyes to this. Mozilla releasing an extension that protects users from Facebook is easy because Mozilla receives minimal if any funding from Facebook, but Google is another matter entirely. ^ Many users are wary of third party firefox extensions because firefox extension permissions are so coarse: https://i.imgur.com/G1HuXgy.png https://i.imgur.com/G1HuXgy.png

JackCh 8y ago

> "BTW did you see the super cool world domination mind control fantasizing internal video?" Care to share?

wpdev_63 8y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVVo14A_fo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVVo14A_fo The scary fact is that they do this to an extent with their ads.