On Monday, 21 August 2017 16:56:44 UTC+1, Georg Fritzsche wrote: > Hi, > > for Firefox we want to better understand how people use our product to > improve their experience. To do that, we are planning to run a new SHIELD > study that tests how we can collect additional data in a privacy preserving > way. Check out the details below and send me your thoughts. > > The problem. > > One recurring ask from the Firefox product teams is the ability to collect > more sensitive data, like top sites users visit and how features perform on > specific sites. > > Currently we can collect this data when the user opts in, but we don't > have a way to collect unbiased data, without explicit consent (opt-out). > > Asks for sensitive data center most commonly around knowing something in > relation to which sites a user visits: > > - > > "Which top sites are users visiting?" > - > > "Which sites using Flash does a user encounter?" > - > > "Which sites does a user see heavy Jank on?" > > In summary most asks are for occurrences of an event X per domain (more > specifically eTLD+1 [1], e.g. facebook.com or google.co.uk). > > The solution. > > One solution is the use of differential privacy [2] [3], which allows us to > collect sensitive data without being able to make conclusions about > individual users, thus preserving their privacy. > > An attacker that has access to the data a single user submits is not able > to tell whether a specific site was visited by that user or not. > > The Google Open Source project called RAPPOR [4] [5] is the most widely > known and deployed implementation of differential privacy. > > We have been investigating the use of RAPPOR for these kind of use-cases, > with initial simulation results being promising. > > Our plan. > > What we plan to do now is run an opt-out SHIELD study [6] to validate our > implementation of RAPPOR. This study will collect the value for users’ home > page (eTLD+1) for a randomly selected group of our release population We > are hoping to launch this in mid-September. > > This is not the type of data we have collected as opt-out in the past and > is a new approach for Mozilla. As such, we are still experimenting with the > project and wanted to reach out for feedback. > > Georg > > References: > > 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Suffix_List > > 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differential_privacy > > 3: https://robertovitillo.com/2016/07/29/differential-privacy-for-dummies/ > > 4: https://github.com/google/rappor > 5: https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.6981 > <https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.6981>6: > https://wiki.mozilla.org/Firefox/Shield/Shield_Studies
Let me be REALLY honest about this and tell you all two things: First: Every_single_time i install Firefox anywhere (and it's been a few computers already... a few hundreds, probably) i go on and turn Telemetry ON. Why? Because i believe it helps you! Because i believe the data are in good hands! So, if you enable it by default you'll take a few click off of me! (I thank you for that!) Having that said, lets get to the second point: about all this Pro/Anti-Privacy mambo-jambo! I'm a VERY VERY Strong pro-Privacy! Privacy it's one of my main concerns!!! (in fact, i keep an eye on that Tor Patchs that - finally - are being applied to FF). So, i should be against it... But, as i said above: I believe the data is in good hands! And there is always a Opt-Out option. Just be sure this REALLY works and REALLY stops telemetry (instead of like some other "products" that keep receiving data), and you count me in. A few considerations about some comments i found here and there: If you Make it opt-out, you'll get a lot of bad press! They'll say the hell of you. But FF is already with +-15% of net usage... so... it won't be that bad!!! BUT - at the end of the day - (AND SORRY FOR SAYING THIS SO DIRECTLY) - Most people are completely stupid. They DON'T GIVE A S*** about their privacy!!! They all say "I've got nothing to hide". I'm REALLY TIRED of trying to bring light about how important privacy is - and i always get to the same conclusion: They really don't give a s***!!! So, You need the data to make a better product? It will help Firefox and Mozilla to stay relevant? To exist? To secure a future? JUST TAKE IT!!! If you don't, tomorrow we'll probably won't have a Good Browser anymore. All the other browsers do it!!! Anyone how cares about privacy have the option to turn it OFF. They'll scream at you!!! Be mad. Most will say they'll leave Firefox, some will. In the end of the day, they will be no more than 1%. And most of those people that are saying they'll do this or that, well... they probably are using "other" browsers already... Simply put: Turn it ON by default: in a month no one will care and you'll be able to make a better product! but hey, maybe that's just me... :( _______________________________________________ governance mailing list governance@lists.mozilla.org https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
