- Mozilla ends partnership with Onerep due to CEO’s ties to data broker
- Onerep’s data removal service bundled into Mozilla’s Monitor Plus subscription
- Onerep CEO admits to owning people-search websites, leading to end of partnership with Mozilla. Transition plan in progress.
This is what companies that actually care about privacy do. People over profits
Edit: actually, I’m not quite that naive, there’s certainly a business motive here. Cut the dead weight before it drags you down. Still, a good move nonetheless
People over profit generally seems to be the best business practice anyways
I had a car with a bad alternator and took it to a shop, manager quoted me $150 then called an hour later to say he’d picked the wrong version of my car on the computer, mine would be $100 more but he said “a deals a deal so we’ll do it for the 150.”
Every other car problem I had after, straight to that shop cause I knew they’d do solid work and charge me fairly. Putting people before profits means retaining workers and getting loyal customers
It definitely makes sense to anyone with the ability to see past their nose. I wish companies like Comcast and Verizon could see it.
Monopolies for modern necessities (the internet and phone) don’t have to worry about customer retention.
I mean, in some situations those two I mentioned are but I’ve been in the position to easily switch service to another company and that doesn’t change their behavior at all.
“So the problem is it’s too easy to switch. Let’s change that!” - some CEO, probably
They 100% have been having that conversation since the 50s if not earlier
Some CEO to another, at a ski chalet where they totally don’t collude at the spa.
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Plot twist: The right version was actually cheaper, but they figured they’d tell you that story to make you a more loyal customer.
Where I live changing the price after agreeing on it would even be illegal :0
How did you get to this conclusion? Tesla, amazon, McDs etc are top tier companies who are notoriously shit both to work for and in how they operate in terms of skirting regulation etc.
investing in people(customers) brings slow but longterm sustainable profits (Linux for example)
profits don’t bring customers, they bring investors
Profits are the goal though, look at the car industry, they have reduced production numbers to increase profits with higher margins.
They dont care about customers, only profits and investors.
The point is that if they get complacent, they get replaced (example: what tesla and new Chinese companies like BYD are doing with the car market)
its a good long term business move. And mozilla is a nonprofit, not beholden to the whims of shareholders, so they can do long term moves in peace.
Nonprofits can’t lose money. They still got bills and are motivated by revenue. I say this as someone who has worked in non-profits for most of my adult life
Am I wrong in saying the lack of shareholders makes it easier for non profits to make long term profitable business decisions, compared to companies with shareholders, who seem to often care about short term revenue above anything else?
For-profits don’t all have shareholders. Non-profits still have boards (and with non-profits it’s at times more difficult to rid your company of toxic board members). I’ve seen non-profits that move like snails and for-profits that move like cheetahs.
And I wouldn’t really say it’s easier, no. For two companies of the same size, I don’t think it would be any different just because you’re a public company. Plenty of them don’t mind posting a loss if they defend it with investments. Investors, especially institutional ones, don’t just look at revenue. Assets, liabilities, equity, it all frames investing decisions.
Today I learned!
It’s sorta the other way. Mozilla constantly does stuff like that and backs off when they get called out on it.
This one is cool but I’m still going with Librewolf, thanks.
This is fantastic. That said, Mozilla should really reconsider their own CEO too.
Are you referring to the foundation president Mark Surman or the corporation CEO Laura Chambers? She seems to be an interim position holder, so I guess whatcha referring to?
Laura. Her past affiliations are concerning. I’m aware she’s seated on an interim position, but I can’t imagine that there weren’t any better candidates.
What exactly did she do that is concerning?
Ok, that’s why she’s interim and they’re looking for someone else.
Not everything in her past is stuff I like, am interested in, or agree with, but I don’t see anything in her history that means she can’t be a CEO or that her appointment should concern me.
What has she done that makes you worry?
It’s not her actions, it’s her past workplaces. AirBnB in particular is concerning. It’s not exactly a secret that thanks to AirBnBs business model, and the lack of regulation of it, that the housing markets in several countries have gotten fucked completely. Something she chose to work with and directly support.
I somehow rank the right to have a place to live slightly above the right to have open access to the internet (though not by much), and as such I wouldn’t want anyone with her affiliations in any such senior position at Mozilla, temporary or no.
Pretty sure he’s saying there should be no ultimate head. Which…umm…if you get rid of CEO then someone below them is in charge and then you just keep cutting people until nobody is left lol
That’s not at all what I said. You’re conflating my comment with that of someone else.
Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems like for the most part, at least for big decisions, the corporation answers to the foundation which is more of a commitee anyway. Maybe they’re kept more separate than that, but that’s the impression that I got.
They should not have a CEO, period. Useless do-nothing job.
It’s always funny to see someone who thinks they know how it works but in reality has no clue whatsoever how it works.
What do you think that job consists of? Lol
If only politicians were held up to the same standards when it came to being in positions of conflict of interest.
We’d have to abolish everyone currently in office and start over.
Which would be beautiful.
People. This is talking about the CEO for Onerep, not the CEO for Mozilla.
Oh thank God I was like bruh now what do I do
I’ve always been doubtful about these privacy “protection” services. Giving a bunch of personal data and money to a commercial entity making seemingly dubious claims it can compel other services to remove your data has never seemed like a great idea. Data is the new oil, it’s incredibly valuable, and there is too much incentive for companies like that to become just another data collector.
The “incentive” is just greed. Customers could be paying a million dollars a month and there will still be some greedy, slimey executive pushing “if we sold their data too we could make a million and one dollars off them each month”.
Good. Just another reason to keep Firefox.
They initied the relationship like a month ago without any safety check. Is that also a good reason?
When questionable decisions are seen as a virtue because they are reversed.
Dunno about you, but recognizing a mistake and taking action to correct it is usually a sign of maturity in my book.
I kind of feel like the only job of CEOs is to not intentionally fuck shits up. But they often seems to fail at that somehow.
If you do a good job as CEO we’ll pay you $1 million
If you mess up as CEO we’ll pay you $900,000
If you really mess up as CEO we’ll pay you $800,000
If you completely tank the company … we’ll pay you $2 million
common Firefox W
Looks like Mozilla will always depend on that google check lol.
The headline is ambiguous here. The CEO in question is from Onerep, not Mozilla.
And that is not related to the comment. If this partner is gone, Firefox lost a big deal.
Context. People seemed to be complaining about Mozilla’s CEO. That’s why I wanted to clarify for anyone reading the comments first.
This CEO has been a problem from day one, and there needs to be a movement to get rid of them.
Didn’t the CEO recently step down or am I confused?
She did. People are dumb.
very deceptive title from the source author. OP please insert [, the privacy partner, Onerep’s ] in place of “its” to make it clear Mozilla didn’t do anything wrong here.
Mozilla could do something wrong, but I entirely read this as Mozilla’s CEO had ties to data brokers and ditched Mozilla’s privacy partner because of that.
A masterbaiter, perfect fit for making Youtube titles.
From the title I was so disappoint in Mozilla. So glad. No longer disappoint.
I’m not entirely sure I get this, so a company that will and does force other company’s to remove personal data has ties to a broker and Mozilla dropped them for those ties, I mean its not bad but its definitely harsh and removes a useful service from a subscription they offered,hopefully Mozilla can at least find a new implementation or change the pricing to shadow the lack of this feature.Edit: different article Mozilla did the right thing. I still think Mozilla should adjust pricing or implement a similar service.
Personally, these services are all a bit sketchy anyway. Mostly because they advertise themselves as the magic bullet to remove all your unwanted personal data from the internet, but ignores that this removal relies on the cooperation of the third parties in possession of your data. Most notably, this won’t work if your data has been exposed in a data breach.
To me it very much feels like VPN ads. Technically a working product, but advertised in a very dishonest way.
i agree, its more that if the vpn advertised a roster of features and removed one id still like to see the pricing reflect that reduction.
VPN use should warrant the same privacy concerns. They can tell they respect your privacy all they want, nobody can control that.
And they’ve got a huge incentive to sellling your data.
Privateinternetaccess.com’s VPN servers log nothing, and run their entire systems in RAM. If you want a VPN that’s truly private, use them. They can’t sell your data, because they retain nothing to sell.
Is there any service like onerep that is reputable and folks could recommend? Luckily I didn’t use onerep, but would like a similar service to explore.
I made a post on lemmy a while here: https://lemm.ee/post/22988838
This is the best summary I could come up with:
“Though customer data was never at risk, the outside financial interests and activities of Onerep’s CEO do not align with our values,” writes Mozilla’s vice president of communications Brandon Borrman, in a statement provided to The Verge.
The service let users hunt down their personal information on the web and submit takedown requests across dozens of websites — all through Mozilla’s partnership with Onerep.
However, an in-depth report from Krebs on Security found that Onerep’s CEO Dimitri Shelest started “dozens” of people-search websites over the course of several years.
Shelest later published a statement admitting that he still holds an ownership stake in Nuwber, which lets visitors search for people based on their name, phone number, address, or email.
“In truth, if I hadn’t taken that initial path with a deep dive into how people search sites work, Onerep wouldn’t have the best tech and team in the space.
“We’re working now to solidify a transition plan that will provide customers with a seamless experience and will continue to put their interests first,” Borrman tells The Verge.
The original article contains 308 words, the summary contains 177 words. Saved 43%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
I wouldn’t say Mozilla is bad when it comes to privacy. All these companies will say things make you think your privacy comes first. Mozilla might advertise that and work towards that.
But they’re also gonna do what’s best for their wallets first. Just like politicians, they’re gonna say what you wanna hear in hopes to get your vote. But they’ll always do what’s best for the wallet first before helping you.
I trust Firefox way more than Chrome or other browsers. But I’ll always use 2FA burner cards and sd blockers to try block bullshit.
LibreWolf. Firefox with lots of extra privacy
Why the downvotes?
Because you lack reading comprehension /s
Also Librewolf is just hardened firefox with some other neat features, I use it but not as a daily driver
iceraven
