Mozilla Firefox, a browser often preferred by users who value online privacy, has unexpectedly become the focus of criticism. The digital rights organization NOYB (None of Your Business) has filed an official complaint regarding the “Privacy Preserving Attribution” feature that Mozilla added with its latest update.
Mozilla Firefox Facing Tough Times!
According to allegations, although this feature appears to aim at “protecting privacy,” it allows the browser to track user behavior and collect this data. Furthermore, Mozilla has made this feature enabled by default.
While Firefox is generally known for its commitment to privacy, the recent update has introduced a system similar to Google’s advertising technology, Privacy Sandbox.
This newly added feature enables websites to track user ad interactions through the browser instead of traditional cookies. Thus, sites can obtain aggregated data through the browser rather than collecting direct data about the user. However, this does not change the fact that tracking is still occurring.
Mozilla claims that this technology protects user privacy and prevents websites from collecting personal data. However, according to NOYB’s criticisms, this system still tracks users and does not comply with the European Union’s GDPR regulations.
Although Mozilla’s goal is to measure advertising performance without associating it with individual data, NOYB argues that this approach constitutes a violation of users’ rights since it occurs without user consent. Moreover, this technology does not completely eliminate cookies; it merely functions as an additional tracking tool.
One of the major criticisms is that Mozilla has enabled this feature by default. NOYB lawyer Felix Mikolasch described this action as a violation of users’ rights, emphasizing that Mozilla implemented this move without informing or obtaining consent from users.
In the coming days, we will see whether Mozilla faces issues due to this new feature. Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comments!