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Mozilla have recently announced that they are adding terms of service to the Firefox browser. They say these terms only apply to the "executable code version of Firefox" and not the source code.
The Arch package is created by building Firefox's source code and not using the binaries provided by Mozilla. If I use the version of Firefox provided by the Arch package, would these terms apply? I have heard on some forums that the terms could apply anywhere Mozilla's branding is used (which includes the Arch package). Is this the case?
If the terms do apply in the package then how can I use Firefox on Arch without accepting the terms?
Last edited by migam830 (2025-02-28 06:24:37)
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Hi, I'm no expert on this but my understanding is that this part of the terms applies to data that is shared with mozilla and as arch linux does not change firefox default configuration, Firefox on Arch may generate data on mozillas end to which the change of terms in my mind would apply. Features that come to mind that use mozilla servers are:
telemetry, see about:preferences#privacy Firefox Data Collection and Use
captive portal detection (it makes an http request to http://detectportal.firefox.com/canonical.html sharing no more data than any http request)
and if you choose to use it:
sync
crash reporting
and possibly others.
I believe that all the functionality that makes use of mozilla servers can be disabled e.g. in about:config, various guides exist online.
They may have their own ToS on sharing data so the change does not neccessarily mean that each of those services reserves the right to share or even store data that comes up from their usage. And it's debatable whether the data shared is to be considered personal data, if you don't make active use of features such as pocket or sync.
I believe the ToS change is connected to their new focus on AI tools and that in future firefox releases we will see more data-centric features. I'm personally more concerned about the long-term direction of firefox than about what happens with the data they collect from me.
Various firefox forks (waterfox, librewolf, floorp, ...) exist that have varying degrees of more privacy-preserving defaults at a varying cost in convenience. Sadly, I'm unaware of any which is in the arch repos... Or is there?
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Various firefox forks (waterfox, librewolf, floorp, ...) exist that have varying degrees of more privacy-preserving defaults at a varying cost in convenience. Sadly, I'm unaware of any which is in the arch repos... Or is there?
Only firefox is in the repos, the rest are in AUR.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/List_o … _spin-offs
Edit: missed tor-browser, which is in the repos.
Last edited by Mortimer Houghton (2025-03-02 03:38:51)
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