Privacy group noyb has filed a complaint against Firefox with Austrian privacy regulator DSB.
The complaint concerns a new feature that would be activated by default in version 128 of Firefox. This Privacy Preserving Attribution (PPA) allows Firefox to track user behavior on websites, according to noyb in a press release. ‘In essence, it is now the browser that does the tracking, rather than individual websites. It may be an improvement over the even more invasive cookie tracking, but the company never asked its users if they wanted to enable it. Instead, Mozilla enabled the feature by default for users in a recent software update.’ Noyb calls the move particularly concerning, especially since Mozilla has a reputation for being one of the most privacy-friendly browsers.
PPA is currently being tested by a small number of sites and is reminiscent of Privacy Sandbox, Google’s much-maligned cookie replacement system. In short, the browser records users’ interests, then compiles them into a seemingly anonymous report, which is then transmitted to an aggregation service. In this way, websites that display advertisements receive reports on the type of user who sees them, but the anonymity of these users would be preserved.
In a statement responding to the complaint, Mozilla states that the code for PPA is included in Firefox 128, but has not been activated. ‘The current iteration of PPA is intended as a limited test on the Mozilla Developer Network website. We continue to believe that PPA is an important step in improving internet privacy and we look forward to working with noyb and others to clear up any confusion around our approach,’ Mozilla told technology site Tweakers.
