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EFF Says Mozilla's PPA is better than Google's Solution (www.fastcompany.com)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Mozilla’s system only measures the success rate of ads—it doesn’t help companies target those ads—and it’s less susceptible to abuse, EFF’s Lena Cohen told @[email protected]. “It’s much more privacy-preserving than Google’s version of the same feature.”

https://mastodon.social/@eff/112922761259324925

Privacy experts say the new toggle is mostly harmless, but Firefox users saw it as a betrayal.

“They made this technology for advertisers, specifically,” says Jonah Aragon, founder of the Privacy Guides website. “There’s no direct benefit to the user in creating this. It’s software that only serves a party other than the user.”

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago (1 children)

I would support something like this. Or something like what brave does. Or something like GNU Taler.

Pretty much anything but sending extra tracking data out.

I feel a little worried that I'm not even sure how Mozilla could monetize this. At least when Brave does its ads, people know how Brave makes their cut.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Mozilla doesn't monetise this; the whole point is to change the ecosystem to enable more privacy. It's not a moneygrab.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Okay, so the end result is a privacy drain for users, extra data that Mozilla slurps up but somehow does not benefit from, no benefit to legitimate advertisers (versus a/b url testing), and no draw for privacy invasive ones.

Then WTF

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Tell me, what data about you does anyone get? And why is there no benefit to legitimate advertisers who will be able to know which of their ads have resulted in sales, even if they don't know anything about you specifically?

The draw for privacy-invasive ones indeed needs a couple of extra steps, which requires being able to see the long-term vision: having a privacy-friendly alternative available enables both legislators to enact stricter legislation, as well as decrease the incentive to keep engaging in the cat-and-mouse game with browsers, trying to find new way to violate people's privacy.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Tell me, what data about you does anyone get?

For starters, Mozilla Corp gets non-anonymous data like your IP address, time of connection, and all the advertisement telemetry.

Then they tell you "trust us with this". The problem is, they have already broken their trust by refusing to tell the user, and doubling down upon this.

And why is there no benefit to legitimate advertisers

Because advertisers already have better options.

Method:	PPA	Topics	Using different links
Corporate creator	Facebook	Google	-
Needs users to trust 3rd party?	Yes (Mozilla)	Yes (Google)	No
~% browsers it works on	<3%	>60%	100%
Guaranteed privacy increase?	No	No	No*

*If you trust the advertiser, they can do it on their own. If you don't trust the advertiser, then the additional third party does nothing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, I meant: what data does anyone get through this new capability? Mozilla could always get your IP address and other connection data when e.g. Firefox checks for updates, or add-ons, or safebrowsing lists, etc. Could you name one or two things that are part of "all the advertisement telemetry" that is new?

Because advertisers already have better options.

Better in the sense that they provide the same information with privacy guarantees that are just as good?

Also, why do you need a guaranteed privacy increase? Why would we want to miss "opportunity to get us a future with improved privacy for everyone"?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Could you name one or two things that are part of "all the advertisement telemetry" that is new?

If your argument is that nothing new is being collected, then there is no reason for Mozilla Corp to collect it and you agree with me that they should roll these changes back.

Also, why do you need a guaranteed privacy increase?

Because I hate it when corporations like Google and Mozilla lie by calling something private when it endangers privacy rather than enhancing it.

Here's a question for you: in what universe do corporations somehow implement Mozilla's proprietary technology and actually increase privacy?