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Comment by gluxon | Hacker News Reader

The "Mozilla Manifesto and Pocket" email thread in the Firefox Dev mailing list gives some insight from the developers. [1]

To paraphrase: it seems they wanted a reading list feature but found it pointless to re-implement an existing solution with many desired features. (Work which was started but appears to have been scrapped.) This rationalized piggy-backing on Pocket. It gives Firefox a reading list for its users without Mozilla having to maintain it.

My personal problem with this has more to do with the anti-competitive nature of integrating services rather than Pocket's closed source.

[1] https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/firefox-dev/B3jJq_kU...

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It would have been cool to have an API for plugins to hook in their "save this url" logic and UI callbacks. That way Mozilla control the core experience and any plugin can implement it like an interface. They could even ship with Pocket installed by default, just as a plugin implementing the same interfaces everyone else can.

I guess the "list URLs" side of things might be an awkward abstraction, although it'd let you merge multiple services which could be cool too. I use IFTTT to move starred pocket items to Evernote, so that'd be one possible use case if Evernote also implemented it.

It somewhat makes sense. If they want it that badly, though, maybe Mozilla should buy Pocket so that they can put it under the aegis of their license/philosophical charter. "Reading List" is currently right up there with "Web Browser" and "Email Client" as major programs that I would like to be neutrally owned by a public foundation.

I think you are confusing cause and effect. Pocket was not added to Firefox because Firefox users demanded a sophisticated offline reader. If that were all there is to it, Pocket would be an addon.

Pocket was added to Firefox because Mozilla wants the extra revenue from partnering with Pocket.

Pocket is not paying Mozilla, as said already.

Also, anyone implementing a compatible backend can switch to it by changing a pref.

Can we get a public statement from Mozilla describing its deal with Pocket?

I see a comment below from a Mozilla employee stating that "there is limited public information available about this deal", and claiming that the best quote is in an article that contains a paraphrase from an email from another Mozilla employee saying that Pocket didn't pay for placement.

When a non-profit gives prominent placement to a for-profit company, there are many ways for money to change hands beyond straight up payment for placement. I think we are owed a clear explanation of the Mozilla-Pocket deal.

> Can we get a public statement from Mozilla describing its deal with Pocket?

I've been pleading internally for an official public response. Nothing.

The only other source I've seen is an email reply from Mark Mayo at http://www.planet-libre.org/?post_id=18514

I for one don't use Pocket because they have a very poor privacy policy. For me the integration of a 3rd-part service like Pocket goes against everything Firefox says it stands for: free, open, and private internet.

I was enjoying the Firefox reading-list feature because it allowed me to save webpages and sync across my devices without having to put all that information into a proprietary 3rd party service. I thought the reading-list was one of the best features added to Firefox for years, and now they have scraped it. I really can't understand how Mozzilla executives came to the conclusion that this was a good idea.

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