Found this notification this morning on my pixel 6.

  • BetterNotBigger@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2487·
    26 days ago

    Even if this isn’t entirely true, you know Google wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to reduce Firefox market share to scare everyone back to Chrome.

    • cley_faye@lemmy.worldEnglish
      10·
      25 days ago

      There’s no need to reduce Firefox marketshare. Most people don’t even consider using anything else than whatever is default in their device.

      Also, it’s not a Google scare tactic or a flex. Every application on the Play Store must disclose the general outlines of their data policy, including the sharing of data. Lying with those checkbox is not a good idea but they are completely informative and put there by the publishing party, so the people responsible for publishing Firefox on mobile just updated these, and this is what is shown when an app publisher say their app is sharing data with third parties.

      tl;dr: it’s very likely that not a single soul at Google even looked at this, as this is just the regular behavior of the Play Store with apps that changes their data policy or indicate sharing user data with third parties.

        • cley_faye@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          25 days ago

          No idea, I’m not that obsessed with it. But do note that “The developers of these apps provided info about their data sharing practices to an app store. They may update it over time.” and “Data sharing practices may vary based on your app version, use, region, and age.”

          The recent changes to Firefox terms of use (well, their introduction really) was supposedly meant to appease some regional lawmakers. Maybe it is a regional thing. Maybe they changed it again. Maybe it’s, as often with store page update, rolled out progressively to people (in either direction, whether it’s adding or removing these terms).

          The point is, that’s neither a “Google” operation to put Firefox in a bad light, nor a Mozilla operation to… do whatever it is they’re doing these days. It’s just a regular message. Which, reading a lot of the replies here, is something that have to be said.

      • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        29·
        26 days ago

        The story I heard was that by of California’s definition of selling data, doing anything with user data that could benefit the company was considered selling data. So they updated their FAQ to be in line with that definition. But I could be wrong, if someone could point me to a good article I’d appreciate it.

          • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            6·
            25 days ago

            Thanks! Sounds like limiting risk from the California bill is a plausible reason, but it isn’t confirmed.

            Legal Definitions of “Selling Data” Under the CCPA Are Broad: As noted above, the CCPA’s definition encompasses many data-sharing practices that may not align with common understanding of “selling data”.[16] Even if Mozilla was not directly selling user data, its search partnerships, telemetry data sharing, & sponsored content could have been interpreted as data sales if Mozilla received any financial benefit from them, all of which were actions that Mozilla has already been transparent & upfront about.

            Mozilla’s Search Engine Deals Could Be Considered Data Sales: As mentioned earlier, these partnerships could legally qualify as data sales under the CCPA definition, despite being an existing part of Mozilla’s business model that consumers are already aware of.[1]

            Sponsored Content in Firefox’s New Tab Page Involves Data Exchange: Mozilla dReferencesisplays sponsored content and ads on the Firefox New Tab page, which may involve user interaction data being shared with advertisers.[11] Even if the data is anonymized, the CCPA considers certain types of aggregated data as personal information if it can be linked back to users.[16]

        • solrize@lemmy.worldEnglish
          22·
          25 days ago

          You’re saying “exploiting” user data might have been more precise than “selling”. Either way I don’t want them doing it.

      • yessikg@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        25 days ago

        Society empowers and encourages shitty people that only care about their own kind/tribe themselves, is why.

    • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      1·
      24 days ago

      My understanding is this is due to regions broadening the definition of “sell” to include any form of personal data transfer. So Mozilla giving location info (with consent if you enable “ask every time” in the permissions) to websites to look up local store hours or whatever is “selling data.”

      AFAIK, nothing has changed in Firefox.

  • cley_faye@lemmy.worldEnglish
    501·
    25 days ago

    That’s a regular notification, which would happen for any application whose data policy is changed on the Play Store page. These policy are as declared by the app publisher. This would be the same for any application that didn’t check that “sharing data with third party” box earlier, then checked it later on.

    • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
      31·
      25 days ago

      I don’t get what your comment is getting at. I don’t view this post as saying anything special or unique about the notification. I see it as a warning that Firefox is now doing this.

      • cley_faye@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        25 days ago

        Have you read all the other replies? “Google mad”, “Google putting Firefox in the dirt”, “False info”, etc.

  • umbraroze@lemmy.worldEnglish
    311·
    25 days ago

    Wait a second. You’re expecting Google to not FUD? Ha ha ha oh wow. I mean I didn’t actually expect them to do so, but yeah.

  • SynonymousStoat@lemmy.worldEnglish
    251·
    26 days ago

    Pretty easy to disable the location app permission or set it to ask every time. Firefox hasn’t asked me to enable it since turning it off.

      • sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        24 days ago
        • Fennec - Firefox build with some proprietary stiff removed; repo
        • IronFox - Firefox fork (forked from Mull) with a bunch of hardening changes (notably resistFingerprinting enabled); repo

        IronFox is more ambitious, which means higher maintenance load and more likely to fall behind. Fennec is much simpler, so less likely to fall behind, but also doesn’t change much from Firefox.

    • Mr. Camel999@programming.devEnglish
      3·
      26 days ago

      I’ve not heard of ironfox before this thread! Could you possibly link it? Doesn’t seem like it’s on FDroid or IzzyOnDroid

  • devilish666@lemmy.worldEnglish
    162·
    25 days ago

    Firefox engines have telemetry since old ages. Do you know what even crazier ??? even other firefox browser like fennec has Mozilla telemetry.


    PSA : disable it with Blocker (ROOT) for more privacy

    • JackbyDev@programming.devEnglish
      12·
      25 days ago

      Sending telemetry like crashes and what features you use/don’t use isn’t really in the same category as using location data for marketing purposes. It’s a very important distinction to draw.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.worldEnglish
    91·
    26 days ago

    I had already downloaded and installed Ironfox (FF Android fork) on my phone and have been using it for a week or so. It works identically to FF for android. Ublock Origin is working in Ironfox too.