I completely agree with this statement and most of the replies on this list. Pocket is a surprising and unwanted addition. I believe that the masses would not care for this feature. Some may be tricked into using it, thinking it is a Mozilla service and follows its guidelines (and is free).
I found the change when I was using Firefox Developer Edition. This change, alongside with the new Firefox Tiles (which are ad-based, collect personal information*, and analytics regarding your usage of them), has pushed me to temporarily stop using it and switch to my default Safari browser (I use a Mac). Below is the feedback that I have sent to Mozilla today: " The forced, unannounced, and aesthetically displeasing integration of the proprietary Pocket "extension" breaks the Mozilla mission statement and undermines the Firefox free software base. Pocket cannot be removed, uses different policies (including the privacy policy that Mozilla prides itself over), and potentially leads a free software user to pay for third-party services. The integration of Pocket is hypocrisy on Mozilla's side. There has been no prior announcement or transparency. Pocket may potentially work with the US Government. This breaks a concerned user's trust ties to Mozilla's actions. Below are the parts of the Mozilla Manifesto that Pocket violates blatantly: 4: "Individuals' security and privacy on the Internet are fundamental and must not be treated as optional." 6: "The effectiveness of the Internet as a public resource depends upon interoperability (protocols, data formats, content), innovation and decentralized participation worldwide." 7: "Free and open source software promotes the development of the Internet as a public resource." Pocket is not open source at all! tl;dr: Pocket integration shows the value of convenience and partnership over transparency, freedom, free (stuff), openness, privacy, decentralization, and other aspects of the Mozilla mission. It should be removed. " Thank you for reading! *I consider IP addresses to be personal information. Is a user has a static IP address, it is definitely personal information and may be traced through his or her respective ISP. On Friday, June 5, 2015 at 5:59:56 PM UTC-4, tucker....@gmail.com wrote: > (Pasted from https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1172126. There are > some comments on Hacker News at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9667809). > > Mozilla's recent integration with Pocket, a proprietary third-party service, > is a mistake. > > It is very exciting to see the ways in which Firefox continues to improve. > And it's even more exciting to see the ways that Mozilla advances it's stated > mission outside of the Firefox browser with new developments like Firefox > Accounts. Pocket now allows you to log in on their site using your Firefox > Account; being able to authenticate with a trusted third party like Mozilla > is a huge win for online privacy advocates and the Mozilla community. > However, adding Pocket as a built-in feature to Firefox should not have been > done. > > This is particularly surprising since it was Firefox that made browser > extensions mainstream. Pocket should have been an extension (in fact, a > Pocket extension used to exist). It could have even been bundled with the > browser. This distinction is important, since extensions can be removed > entirely, whereas currently Pocket can only be disabled. > > The user experience of disabling Pocket is not good, either. It needs to be > disabled in about:config, which is not at all user friendly, and therefore > not in line with Mozilla's mission. In the past, Mozilla has been very good > about showing the user what new features have been added to the interface and > explaining any privacy implications that may come with them. That is why I > was so surprised when the Pocket icon suddenly appeared in Firefox Developer > Edition a couple days ago. It is so unlike Mozilla to introduce something > like that, I ran a virus scan and checked what programs had been installed > recently -- I assumed it had been put there in the same way that IE users > used to get the Ask Toolbar installed. > > It may also not be clear to some users that, even when signing in with your > Firefox account, you are still giving your email address to a third party > whose privacy policy is different than Mozilla's. Many users would not assume > this, since it is a feature that is bundled with the browser. > > Mozilla's recent blog post about the Pocket feature is titled "Firefox Puts > You in Control of Your Online Life" > (https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/06/02/firefox-puts-you-in-control-of-your-online-life/). > Had this been coming from a startup, that post would be humorously ironic. > But given how much people care about Mozilla and it's stated mission, it is > more painful than funny. > > Firefox should continue to add new features that benefit its users, but those > features must be done in accordance with Mozilla's core values. This feature > should've been done as an extension, which allows for greater user choice and > avoids bloat. Most importantly, there was very little public discussion about > this inclusion of a proprietary, third-party service. It's a huge departure > from Mozilla's commitment to transparency. The existence of the Pocket code > in Firefox is a bug in the browser, and it does not adhere to Mozilla's core > mission. _______________________________________________ governance mailing list governance@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
