I spent several hours this weekend on Reddit. I’ve been discussing Mozilla and their future. After finally de-googling my mobile life, I have been confronted by one simple truth: the organization that provides my default browser is now a larger threat to my safety than most other threat actors that I now face. Why is that? That’s simple. The new Google and Mozilla browser deal ensures that private data – my private data and your private data – will be collected by Mozilla and then delivered to Google.
Does This Make Any Sense?
From Google’s viewpoint, this makes perfect sense. They can make sure that their search engine is still the default search engine for a large number of Firefox users. For most folks, search engines don’t make sense. And if you don’t understand something, you usually don’t try to change it. All of us know the adage that if it isn’t broken, then you shouldn’t fix it. For this reason, most people don’t touch the browser that they use. This deal extension plays right into Newton’s First Law: the law of inertia. This extension enshrines a docile Mozilla. It ensures that they will act as the “dutiful competitor” whenever state and federal regulators get too inquisitive.
From Mozilla’s viewpoint, this also makes sense. The Firefox market share is shrinking – and has been shrinking for years. And Mozilla just laid off hundreds of employees. Obviously, they are not going to innovate their way out of their death spiral. Some think that this deal simply provides sufficient financial cushion for the leaders of the Mozilla Foundation to land on their feet.
From A Personal Vantage Point
When you have a list and you move things off of that list, new things surface as “the most important” thing that you must address. So as I’ve reduced my risks from Google, something else had to take Google’s place. And at this moment, it is the browser. More specifically, it is Mozilla’s browser.
Firefox for Android has four (4) embedded trackers. These include: Adjust, Google AdMob, Google Firebase Analytics, and LeanPlum. Half of these trackers report data directly to Google. So after recently breaking the chain that kept me in Google’s sway, I am now left with someone else taking the very same data treasure and “gifting” it right back to Google. Given their financial peril, I truly doubt that the Mozilla Foundation will be convinced to remove these trackers on my behalf.
A Historical Alliance
All of this makes some historical sense. When the Mozilla Foundation first started, they were fighting Microsoft. Today, I am sure that many of the people at Mozilla still see Google as “the enemy of my enemy” and not just “the ‘new’ enemy”.
But the times have changed, right? Microsoft was cowed. And Google rose triumphantly – as did the Mozilla Foundation. Nevertheless, one thing remains the same. There is a ravenous competitor prowling the field. And the consumers that were threatened before are threatened once again. But this time, it is Google that needs to be cowed.
What’s A Geek To Do?
My situation is simple: my most important mobile app is my browser. And this product is now siphoning private information into Google’s coffers. I can’t tolerate this. So I’ve been struggling with this all weekend.What can I do?
- I could continue to use the Fennec variant available on F-Droid. This will work. But this product is EOL. And so there will be no new versions. So while I can keep on using this product, I am living on borrowed time.
- I could change my browser. There are some very good browsers that meet some very specific needs. I could use Chromium – or any one of a number of derivative works. But it is very difficult to cross this bridge. After all, Chromium is the basis for all of Google’s proprietary browser investments.
- I could also use any of a bunch of browsers that are descended from Firefox. IceCast is one such descendant. It is a good browser that is built upon Gecko. And it is actively being maintained. They are trying to keep up with Firefox. But their next update probably won’t happen until the Mozilla folks lay down their next “extended support release” (or ESR). Consequently, this release is intentionally behind the times as the last ESR release is quite dated.
- I could use another browser that is not part of either legacy. But to be fair, there are very few new options that fall into this category.
- I could switch and use the “new” Firefox for Android. This one stings. I am emotionally hurt by the gyrations that Mozilla is inflicting upon their users. Nevertheless, their new version is a very good browser – albeit with several Google trackers. Fortunately, I can neutralize those trackers. By using Pihole, I can ensure that connections made to named Google services will not be properly resolved. In this way, I can have Firefox and still block Google – at least until Mozilla defeats this DNS-oriented defense.
Bottom Line
So what will I do? For now, I’m switching from Fennec F-Droid to Firefox for Android. And I’ve reviewed all of the adlists included on my Pihole. For now, I can use Mozilla Firefox while still intercepting any private data being fed to Google.
Is the Mozilla browser deal good for me? It absolutely is not. Is the deal good for the industry? It probably isn’t. Will I make a temporary compromise until a better solution emerges? Yes, I will make that compromise. But I am altogether unhappy living in this compromised state.