Privacy change prompts complaint
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A complaint has been raised in Europe over Firefox’s “Privacy Preserving” tracking feature.
Vienna-based digital rights group NOYB (None Of Your Business) has filed a complaint with the Austrian data protection authority against Mozilla, accusing the tech company of enabling user tracking through its Firefox browser without obtaining user consent.
The feature in question, called Privacy Preserving Attribution (PPA), was introduced in a recent Firefox update, raising concerns over privacy violations under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
While Mozilla presents PPA as a more privacy-friendly alternative to traditional tracking methods, it has still drawn criticism for not adequately informing users.
Instead of websites installing cookies to monitor ad interactions, Firefox itself handles this data tracking.
Though touted as less invasive, NOYB argues that the feature still infringes upon user rights and undermines the core principles of privacy protection.
One of the primary issues raised in the complaint is Mozilla’s decision to enable the PPA feature by default.
Users were not notified of this development and have not been asked for their consent to be tracked through this mechanism.
Mozilla's data protection policies make no reference to the feature, and users are left to discover the opt-out option in the browser’s settings.
Felix Mikolasch, a data protection lawyer at NOYB, criticised the company’s approach, saying; “It’s a shame that an organisation like Mozilla believes that users are too dumb to say yes or no. Users should be able to make a choice, and the feature should have been turned off by default”.
The PPA feature aims to allow websites to track ad performance without collecting identifiable data directly from users.
Mozilla claims that PPA prevents any party, including the company itself, from identifying individuals or linking them to specific browsing activity.
However, NOYB says this still amounts to tracking without consent, which conflicts with the GDPR’s stringent rules on data processing.
In its complaint, NOYB has requested the Austrian data protection authority (DSB) to investigate Mozilla’s conduct.
It is urging the company to adopt an opt-in system that respects user consent and to delete all data that has been unlawfully processed through the PPA feature.
NOYB also noted that millions of European Firefox users are likely affected by this default tracking.
“Mozilla has just bought into the narrative that the advertising industry has a right to track users by turning Firefox into an ad measurement tool,” Mikolasch said.
“While Mozilla may have had good intentions, it is very unlikely that 'privacy preserving attribution' will replace cookies and other tracking tools. It is just a new, additional means of tracking users.”
The criticism echoes the concerns raised with Google’s attempt at creating a “privacy-friendly” tracking tool with its Privacy Sandbox.
The open-source Firefox, which was once a preferred alternative to Google’s Chrome, has lost significant market share in recent years. Despite its emphasis on user privacy, Firefox now lags behind browsers like Safari and Microsoft Edge.
Mozilla has yet to respond directly to the NOYB complaint, but a company spokesperson has stated that “Mozilla's limited test of PPA is a part of our effort to improve invasive advertising practices by providing technical alternatives”.