Firefox's AI Switch Is Off. Telemetry Isn't
marius.blog
marius.blog
Well, at least it's not the closing sentence.
It's a response to the Mozilla CEO saying[0] "Trust is earned. Consent is asked. AI skipped both," which promised to ameliorate this issue, and apparently did not.
You download, disconnect from the network, and then edit the settings file before even starting the app for the first time.
However, I'm fine with telling Mozilla once per install that I'm not interested in using the generative AI, or summaries, etc. On-device translation is quite useful.
* Firefox's AI Switch Is Off. Telemetry Isn't
* Firefox's AI Switch Is Off. Telemetry Isn't off [complete second clause]
* Firefox's Telemetry Isn't Off [remove negative clause]
* Firefox's Telemetry Is On [remove double negative]
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Admittedly I didn't read past the first two paragraphs, but I assume it is a several hundred word repetition of its tautologous title.
Since I do my content filtering at the proxy level, all I want is just a browser .
The most sensible way to get around this is to use LibreWolf or Waterfox. They aggressively rip all of this out.
I just started a two fresh profiles to test your claim (one in Firefox, one in Dev Edition), the opt-out for telemetry is present in the very first dialogue box and costs 2 clicks. There's a daily usage ping that's still on, and I'm happy to keep it on, because I believe that usage stat is valuable. It's easily disabled.
There are zero extensions by default, and one video decoding plugin. There is a skippable 'recommended add-ons' step on first run, so skip it if you want, easy.
The AI controls are all set to Available but none are automatically used, one must intentionally do so, at which point one is reminded these can be entirely disabled. Even opening the AI chat sidebar doesn't actually connect to a bot, it offers a list of bots, beneath which is a Close button, though that's not the only way to close it.
If you prefer Waterfox, great, you're not the primary target demographic for Firefox, but you can still use it without all the pain you complain of.
And now I'm confused. Firefox 153 on Linux, new profile.
First screen:
> You’re in safe paws
> We protect your data and block companies from spying on your clicks — automatically.
> Set Firefox as default browser
> Import from previous browser
Second screen:
> Give your browsing a boost
> Extensions are tiny apps that let you customize Firefox. They can power up your privacy, enhance productivity, change the way Firefox looks, and so much more.
> Explore staff recommended extensions
Third screen:
> Go anywhere. Sync everything.
> Grab bookmarks, passwords, and more everywhere you’re signed in to Firefox. Plus, your data is encrypted so only you can see it.
> Sign up or sign in
And that's it; after that it dumps out to the page of ads that is the new tab screen. If I click to Settings > Permissions and data > Firefox data collection and use, it appears that everything is default enabled except automatically sending crash reports.
the sky is blue
Mozilla does not need more money than it already has. Ladybird has shown that you don't need a huge team to build a browser from scratch, so clearly Mozilla isn't spending all the money it gets from Google for development.
Of course, it’s also good to have the option to disable it.
The problem is that the surveillance mindset has infected developers these days so now you have a bunch of telemetry apologists and advocates influencing the narrative. Unfortunately they are themselves fine with being spied on... although the inevitable leak happens and hopefully some of them start to worry.
The point of telemetry is not to estimate the number of active users, and focusing on "telemetry" is the wrong bogeyman. Things like crash reports are telemetry, and are perfectly acceptable as long as the user remains in control over whether or not to send them. Software should respect user privacy and user control.
I'm perfectly fine with telemetry in any software, free or paid. Just make it opt-in and don't turn into cookie notice style malicious compliance about that.
Don't install it if you dont want it, that is where you choice lies. Telemetry inclusion is up to the author. Good ones will make it opt-in if it is truly necessary to include.
> Ladybird has shown that you don't need a huge team to build a browser from scratch
Ladybird has done no such thing.
It has a cost and can also become a liability. You don't do it just for fun.
Ironically, it's the people who disable all telemetry out of ignorance and paranoia that end up crying every time a developer deprecates their favorite feature or they have an issue with a new release. If you don't vote you don't get to complain. Mozilla's PM's in particular have repeatedly published and cited telemetry data in their decision making, and have referenced crash reports in proactively filed bugs.
Whether or not telemetry counts as spying depends on whether or not informed consent was obtained before data is sent. If any data is collected about me, my machines, or my use of my machines, and I have not explicitly been told about and agreed to it first, then I'm being spied on.