The alt text generation is done locally. That was the big justification Mozilla used when they announced the feature.

I'm talking about the non-local ChatGPT stuff.

But the alt text generation already leverages a self-hosted LLM. So either Mozilla is going to cook in hundreds of extra megabytes of data for their installs, or people with accessibility issues are going to have to download something extra anyway. (IIRC it's the latter).

We could talk all day about things that Mozilla could add out of the box that would make the user experience better. How about an ad blocker? They can be like Opera, Brave, Vivaldi, even the most ambitious Firefox fork LibreWolf.

But for some reason they went with injecting something into Firefox that nobody was asking for, and I don't think it aligns at all with the average Firefox users needs or wants. Normies don't use Firefox. They use a browser that doesn't raise "switch to Chrome or Edge" messages. And if there was some subset of Firefox users who were begging Mozilla for AI, I never saw them. Where were they?

If it was truly opt-in, it could be an extension. They should not be bundling this with the browser, bloating it more in the process.

AI already has ethical issues, and environmental issues, and privacy issues, and centralization issues. You technically can run your own local AI, but they hook up to the big data-hungry ones out of the box.

Look at the Firefox subreddit. One month ago, people were criticizing the thought of adding AI to Firefox. Two months ago, same thing. Look at the Firefox community. See how many times people requested AI.

And yet, Mozilla went for the 10% that do violate your privacy and gives your data to the biggest corporations: Google, Microsoft, OpenAI.

What happened to the Mozilla Manifesto?

What are they missing? So far, all they've added is a sidebar and a couple extra right-click menu additions. Both of these are available for all extensions.

Second ad company, if you count FakeSpot selling private data to other ad providers!

And those are probably the "anything"s they would rather not respond to.

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Mozilla didn't choose privacy. Qwant sends you IP address to Microsoft when you search on their platform. If you want a more responsible search engine, DuckDuckGo is still the way to go.

Update 3: DuckDuckGo also sends along more information than I originally noticed, including "anonymous browser and device information with our hosting and content providers for security and display purposes (for example, that you’re using a mobile device)"

The information collected by Qwant includes...

• hash of the IP address
• User Agent
• market segment of a request
• date and time of the visit
• information of the country and the chosen language
• search keywords
• where a user came from
• type of device used
• source of visit
• operating system
• major browser version

Qwant may (will) transfer to Microsoft:

• your full IP address
• Information about the browser you are using (the User Agent
• The first three bytes of your IP address;
• The approximate geographic area at the origin of the search, at the scale of a region or city;
• The hash generated from your IP address and User Agent

Update 2: removing name and email as that's only for optional account creation

Update 1: Qwant wants you to disable your ad blocker

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This sounds a whole lot like privacy sandbox.
You know, Google Topics.
The thing nobody wanted.

And honestly, reading through the article here, I don't see many ways that it'll be much better. If advertisements are matched on your local machine, then data is still being amalgamated somewhere. This is similar to Google Topics and Microsoft Recall, two things people complain about. For good reason.

The online advertising industry is undergoing a significant transformation. With growing consumer concerns and increasing scrutiny from regulators, it’s evident that current data practices are excessive and unsustainable.

It's strange that Mozilla, a company that constantly positions itself as the ethical alternative to big tech, is saying "companies are being mandated out of unethical advertising."

Secure Environment: Data sets are matched in a highly secure environment

Without any further information, this means so very little. Is it done locally? On their servers? Who knows.

By combining Mozilla’s scale and trusted reputation with Anonym’s cutting-edge technology, we can enhance user privacy and advertising effectiveness, leveling the playing field for all stakeholders.

When advertising is the business, your attention is the product. Maybe I'm being too unkind to Mozilla here, but it's their press release and they can be as specific as they choose.

Anonym was founded with two core beliefs: First, that people have a fundamental right to privacy in online interactions...

This is the sort of meaningless fluff that you see at the front of every privacy policy, including that of the most invasive companies.

... and second, that digital advertising is critical for the sustainability of free content, services and experiences.

That's the only way to offer free services?! What about donation-based models? Maybe Mozilla could have set up something like what Brave has, except not based around a sketchy cryptocurrency.

In fact, GNU Taler exists for this very purpose.

Anonym was founded in 2022 by former Meta executives

Meta. The company known for loving user privacy.

I was hoping Mozilla would finally shut up about putting AI into everything, but in retrospect, maybe they should go back to that.

I'm reading through the Anonymco privacy policy. Some standouts:

We collect... IP address, social media user names, passwords and other security information,

Passwords?!

...your browsing and click history, including information about how you navigate within our Site and Services...

...We collect and verify resumes, employment eligibility, education, and employment history from job applicants. This includes information about your skills and qualifications for the position....

Okay, great, they know how employable you are

We may disclose Personal Information and any other information about you to government or law enforcement officials or private parties... to prevent or stop any illegal, unethical, or legally actionable activity...

They are leaving the door open to disclose your data to private mercenaries to prevent... Pre-crime, I think.

We use Google Analytics on the Site and Services to analyze how users use the Site and Services, and to provide advertisements to you on other websites.

THEY USE GOOGLE ON YOUR DATA.

This really sounds like Mozilla snapped up the first company with the right buzzwords that they could find, rather than looking for the best one. It sounds like a repeat of the OneRep privacy disaster, when they partnered with a corporation that sold people's data and used their ownership of it to basically demand ransom payments for its removal.

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