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Firefox for Android starting to share location data with third parties

42 points by simpss ↗ HN
Today i got a notification on my phone, that firefox is changing how it handles my location data and that it might be shared with third parties[1].

This update is yet to be included in the official play store page[2], but has already taken affect for the installed application.

[1] - https://i.imgur.com/8rBB8k4.jpeg

[2] - See play store snapshot, that states "no data is shared with third parties": https://web.archive.org/web/20250310211223/https://play.google.com/store/apps/datasafety?id=org.mozilla.firefox&hl=en-us

11 comments

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WayToDoor
Third party, such as other websites when giving explicit permission? This sounds fine to me.
simpss
I wish that was the case.

Opening the "data safety" section another pop-up[1] comes up and the specific use-cases listed are "advertising or marketing" and "personalisation".

[1] - https://i.imgur.com/QwqiQna.jpeg

Andaith
Isn't that just what has to be selected in the play store to allow the app to access/use the localization framework in Android? It doesn't guarantee they're sharing information. They could still do it on a site by site bases with in-app approvals?

I guess the concept has gone from "We don't support this at all" to "We support it but won't be evil, you have to trust us."

How much do we trust Mozilla/Firefox? You could always go read the code yourself: https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central or just do what most people do and hope someone else audits it :)

simpss
There's a choice between first party(collected) and third party(shared). Also a list of purposes one chooses from. This could include "App functionality", "Analytics", "Account management", etc...

Two of the possible 3rd party choices are "Advertising or marketing" and "Personalization". These two have been chosen for firefox. This includes sharing data with advertising partners.

https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answ...

A change to those options is what triggered the notification. It's not a requirement for using location features.

I'd say a part of figuring out what they are doing is reading such information. Even if the code itself doesn't reflect it yet, it's usually listed in preparation.

It's also a good way to figure out the code needs to be reviewed :)

gxnxcxcx
Mozilla could piss on our breakfast and people will still assume it's probably Tang and we should avoid overreacting.

They acqui-hired ex-Meta ads people, the culture will obviously leak (tee-hee) and it is what it is.

karmakaze
I don't allow location access for Firefox or other apps. Even with delivery apps I'll manually enter pickup address (or use saved nicknames).

I mostly leave location services disabled altogether (as it saves a good amount of battery).

taauji
> I mostly leave location services disabled altogether

how do you get around using navigation. that was the only reason that prevented me from turning off location permanently.

karmakaze
I've lived in and around Toronto for 50+ years. I don't use any navigation, unless you count spoken directions.

You know people got around fine without GPS (though paper maps are a hassle). I do use it if I'm in another city but that's rather infrequent.

LinuxBender
I do use it if I'm in another city but that's rather infrequent.

Even in that case if I am driving around I use a non-networked Garmin. I apply updates to it before I go on a trip. If that fails I can always stop and ask directions. It's a fun way to meet people I never would have otherwise.