Hi Doug, Sorry for the slow response. Answers below.
On Thursday, April 4, 2013 11:43:33 PM UTC-4, Doug Turner wrote: > Winston, > > > > Hey there. Nice changes to the policy. Just a few questions. Not sure > > you can answer all of them. > > Should the privacy policy have a nice link to show a user how to opt-out > > of getting these location specific notifications? Yes! We included that. > How does the privacy policy change for Android? Last I heard they had > > the idea of using the Android Notification area. If so, it is much more > > in your face and probably requires a lot more buy off and thinking about > > user impact. Right now, this is just related to the desktop snippet. > Doug > > > > > > On 3/27/13 5:38 PM, Winston Bowden wrote: > > > Hello, > > > > > > I’d like to make you aware of a new feature the engagement team is working > > on and request feedback on proposed updates to the privacy policy. > > > > > > The feature will allow us to provide users with a snippet (a message on > > their Firefox home page) based on the country they’re in. We’ve worked with > > several Mozilla departments to develop this feature. Privacy, legal, > > product, web dev, security and IT have provided valuable feedback to ensure > > this was implemented in a way that maximizes the user value. > > > > > > What is the snippet? > > > If you haven’t changed your start page on Firefox desktop, you’ll see an > > icon and a few lines of copy underneath the search box. We call these > > messages snippets. Snippets are a feature of the Firefox start page that > > provide users with timely and relevant information on how to get more out > > of their Firefox experience. > > > > > > How is the snippet changing? > > > Currently there isn’t a reliable way to communicate with ours users based > > on their country. For instance, if we need to rally around an important > > cause in Brazil, we don’t have the ability to reach out to those users. > > The current system can send a message based on build (channel + language), > > but builds reach users around the world rather than a specific country. > > > > > > Here are some specific use cases where this service will be used: > > > > > > Community: > > > We’ll now be able to broaden our community base in countries by announcing > > regional Mozilla events or opportunities to get involved with the project. > > If we’re holding a special event in Brazil, we’ll be able to alert that > > user base quickly and easily. > > > > > > Policy: > > > If and when Mozilla needs to rally against legislation like SOPA in > > countries outside of the U.S., we’ll have the ability to reach the users > > that will be impacted and exclude those who aren’t. > > > > > > Firefox OS: > > > With the launch of Firefox OS and Marketplace, there are many opportunities > > to provide users with content that is relevant to their region. For > > example, as phones become available in certain countries, we’ll have the > > ability to inform those users. > > > > > > What’s the technical change? > > > Currently, snippets are delivered based on the build (channel + language) > > the user has downloaded. This can be problematic if we’re trying to talk > > to users in a specific region or country. For example, if you’re on the > > en-us build in Japan, you’re going to see the EN snippets. We’re limited > > in terms of delivering relevant content and information to our user base. > > > > > > How it will work: > > > > > > - Mozilla will use a geo location service that is internally hosted. We > > purchased a license to a database and serve it from Mozilla servers using a > > custom service we’re developing. The database is specifically designed to > > return the country of origin for a given IP address. > > > > > > - Once a month, when the user opens the about:home page, Firefox desktop > > will send the browser’s IP address to this internal service, and the > > service will return the name of the country the user is located in. The > > browser will store the country name in localStorage. Note that it is the > > actual country name that is being stored – NOT the IP address. The IP > > address is not stored after country is established on either the client or > > server. > > > > > > This is a privacy friendly implementation: > > > > > > - Mozilla does not store the country location of a user to provide this > > feature > > > - IP addresses are collected as a part of standard web connections. The > > country information is maintained in HTML5 localStorage on the user’s > > Firefox. The result of a lookup – a particular IP and country – are not > > stored in the same place, ever. > > > - We will be updating our privacy policy. Proposed changes are included > > below for your comments. > > > - If users change their default homepage, the snippet service, including > > this function, will be disabled. > > > > > > We’ll be updating the section dealing with snippets to: > > > > > > Our proposal for updating the privacy policy: > > > > > > -------------------- > > > > > > Firefox's default home page (<about:home>) loads snippets of info that we > > think will be useful to you. Snippets are designed to provide you with > > timely and relevant information on how to get more out of your Firefox > > experience. You can see them right below the search bar. > > > > > > Once per day, Firefox gets new snippets from Mozilla. Whenever you see a > > snippet, that snippet makes a request to Mozilla, so that we can count how > > often snippets are viewed. This request to Mozilla sends the name of the > > snippet and is securely transmitted over HTTPS. Aside from this and > > standard log data collected as a part of any web request, snippets in > > Firefox does not send other information to Mozilla. > > > > > > To help display relevant snippets, your Firefox browser sends Mozilla a > > monthly request to resolve your location at a country level using your IP > > address. We then send that country level information back to your Firefox > > browser, where it's stored in HTML local storage. Your Firefox browser (not > > our web servers) will then pick snippets to show you based on the locally > > stored country information. > > > > > > Aside from providing you with the snippets service, we use the information > > from these requests to estimate what fraction of Firefox users click on > > each snippet, and we break down this info into general categories like > > Firefox version and geographic area. We will not use any of the information > > in this request to attempt to identify you or your activity anywhere else > > online, and we aggregate the info we receive into these general categories > > as soon as is practical. > > > > > > You can turn off Snippets by following the instructions here: > > https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/How%20to%20set%20the%20home%20page. > > > > > > -------------------- > > > > > > Thanks for your feedback- > > > Winston Bowden > > > _______________________________________________ governance mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
