Firefox is a very popular browser that is known for being private and open-source. But did you know that Mozilla Foundation, the company behind Firefox, also collects your data? Well, let us learn how to disable that data collection in this blog.
Why does data collection in Firefox worry open-source enthusiasts?
Firefox has always been one of the most popular browsers out there in general. It is definitely very secure, fast, and reliable. There is no doubt about it. For the majority of Linux distros, it is the default and preinstalled browser. The majority of the FOSS (Free and Open Source) community prefers to use Firefox instead of any other browser. But some certain decisions made by Mozilla have shaken the trust that many people had in Firefox, leading to a massive decline in its user base.
But the main reason behind this data collection concerning many people is that it is enabled by default. Now if you know even a little about privacy, you should get the point I am trying to make. A company whose browser is known for respecting users' privacy is collecting data without the knowledge of most of its users. It puts the company in a very bad light in the FOSS world.
Do not get me wrong, I am not against some amount of data collection. But I am a strict believer that you should give people the choice at the start to 'enable' data collection. Instead, they have enabled it by themselves and they keep collecting the data till the user turns it off. They do not even present the user with a prompt at the start to opt out. The users have to find it by themselves in the settings and disable the data collection if they want to.
Steps to turn off sending data to Mozilla in Firefox -
-- Open Firefox, click on the hamburger drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner and go to 'Settings'.
-- In the 'Settings' page, click on 'Privacy and Security'.
-- Scroll down till you reach the 'Firefox Data Collection and Use' section. Here you will see three things checked by default -
Allow Firefox to send technical and interaction data to Mozilla.
Allow Firefox to make personalized extension recommendations.
Allow Firefox to install and run studies.
-- Uncheck all the three things and you are good to go! You have successfully disabled data collection by Mozilla in Firefox.
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