Lawsuit Against Mozilla

Mozilla had defended the privacy-preserving attribution feature, saying it wanted to help websites understand how their ads perform without collecting data about individual people

Vienna-based advocacy group NOYB has filed a lawsuit with the Austrian data protection authority against Mozilla. The lawsuit accuses Mozilla of tracking user behavior without consent.

NOYB said Mozilla has enabled the feature “privacy preserving attribution”. Through this feature, the browser can track websites without explicitly informing its users.

“It’s a shame that an organization like Mozilla believes that users are too dumb to say yes or no,” said Felix Mikolasch, data protection lawyer at NOYB. 

Felix Mikolasch added, “Users should be able to make a choice and the feature should have been turned off by default.”

Mozilla Defended Privacy Preserving Attribution Feature

Regarding the feature, Mozilla defended it by saying that it wanted to understand the performance of the ads, without collecting data of individuals. By presenting itself as a non-invasive alternative for tracking across websites, it aimed to greatly minimize the gathering of personal details.

NOYB Urges Mozilla to Remove Data Processed Illegally

NOYB asks Mozilla to notify users about its data processing activities and switch to an opt-in system. It also asked to remove all data that was processed illegally affecting millions of individuals.

NOYB also stated that, although this approach might be less intrusive compared to constant monitoring, it still violates user rights as per the EU's privacy laws.

Open-source Firefox was among the best choices for users due to its privacy features but now lags behind Google’s Chrome, Apple’s Safari, and Microsoft’s Edge. Now, Mozilla lags due to its low market share.