(Pasted from https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1172126. There are some comments on Hacker News at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9667809).
Mozilla's recent integration with Pocket, a proprietary third-party service, is a mistake. It is very exciting to see the ways in which Firefox continues to improve. And it's even more exciting to see the ways that Mozilla advances it's stated mission outside of the Firefox browser with new developments like Firefox Accounts. Pocket now allows you to log in on their site using your Firefox Account; being able to authenticate with a trusted third party like Mozilla is a huge win for online privacy advocates and the Mozilla community. However, adding Pocket as a built-in feature to Firefox should not have been done. This is particularly surprising since it was Firefox that made browser extensions mainstream. Pocket should have been an extension (in fact, a Pocket extension used to exist). It could have even been bundled with the browser. This distinction is important, since extensions can be removed entirely, whereas currently Pocket can only be disabled. The user experience of disabling Pocket is not good, either. It needs to be disabled in about:config, which is not at all user friendly, and therefore not in line with Mozilla's mission. In the past, Mozilla has been very good about showing the user what new features have been added to the interface and explaining any privacy implications that may come with them. That is why I was so surprised when the Pocket icon suddenly appeared in Firefox Developer Edition a couple days ago. It is so unlike Mozilla to introduce something like that, I ran a virus scan and checked what programs had been installed recently -- I assumed it had been put there in the same way that IE users used to get the Ask Toolbar installed. It may also not be clear to some users that, even when signing in with your Firefox account, you are still giving your email address to a third party whose privacy policy is different than Mozilla's. Many users would not assume this, since it is a feature that is bundled with the browser. Mozilla's recent blog post about the Pocket feature is titled "Firefox Puts You in Control of Your Online Life" (https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2015/06/02/firefox-puts-you-in-control-of-your-online-life/). Had this been coming from a startup, that post would be humorously ironic. But given how much people care about Mozilla and it's stated mission, it is more painful than funny. Firefox should continue to add new features that benefit its users, but those features must be done in accordance with Mozilla's core values. This feature should've been done as an extension, which allows for greater user choice and avoids bloat. Most importantly, there was very little public discussion about this inclusion of a proprietary, third-party service. It's a huge departure from Mozilla's commitment to transparency. The existence of the Pocket code in Firefox is a bug in the browser, and it does not adhere to Mozilla's core mission. _______________________________________________ governance mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
