MX Linux Forum

FireFox Browser Collects Data Sold ?

Recently, users in the community posted, browser is slow on Linux, Firefox browser is collecting data.

The browser is open source and collecting data from Linux Firefox users, what is the solution for the future of the Linux browser?

1. Librewolf open source
2. Waterfox opensouce

I am not happy with the news that Firefox was sold for millions of dollars and they are collecting data now, will this be the end of Firefox on Linux, what is the solution for a new open source and secure browser on Linux in the future?

I am thinking of using Waterfox: https://www.waterfox.net or Librewolf https://librewolf.net/

I did not find the browsers in the official repository of MX Linux, Librewolf and Waterfox are safe and do not collect data.

Very famous YouTube channel
The Linux Cast
posted the news analyze news Firefox is dead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU8yYS9Cj2U

or The Linux Experiment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc96ISKh2OM

I appreciate the answers which browser to use in the future in the official MX Linux repository

Thanks

You have been mislead. Firefox only gathers telemetry if you allow it by ticking the boxes shown in the attached image.



Edited to add that Mozilla's and by extension, Firefox's new terms of service are an attempt to absolve themselves from liability should a user use Firefox to engage in illegal or immoral activity. The authors of the videos that you have linked should really have sought a legal opinion before they editorialized.

j2mcgreg wrote: Wed Mar 05, 2025 9:20 am You have been mislead. Firefox only gathers telemetry if you allow it by ticking the boxes shown in the attached image.

Good afternoon, I unchecked this option.

But a recent update reported that they collect data, even without turning it off.

I had doubts after many analyses on YouTube, and the Firefox website said that it collects data.

I'll do some more research, Librewolf seems to be safer today I'll try to install it.

I found librewolf in the official mx linux repository, I'm going to install it, I feel safer installing librewolf

I'm testing Firefox and Libre Wolf here to see which is better

Thanks for the information

From reading/watching a range of videos, the new TOS is concerning, as they say anything uploaded or input into the browser is theirs to use/share etc worldwide, as Adobe did, for example, regarding anything created in Photoshop now being theirs to use. It could well be to cover themselves about anything illegal, for sure, but also seems an unfortunate turnaround in other regards too ... I'm seeing people concerned that this is Firefox covering itself regarding using everything uploaded to train AI, which they have stated is their roadmap. They seem to contradict themselves in the TOS also e.g. saying they don't see the page contents, but then say they see how long the text chunk is and what search term was entered, if their chat-bot feature is used. Having a chat-bot feature to me was already concerning, in what was a very privacy-focussed browser and when other browsers already cover ai stuff so much.

To be on the safe side, it could be best to go with anything that turns off as much as leaves it practical/useable for your purposes, and where you at least feel you have some proper control over it. If we were all super tech whizz kids we'd have our own good browsers, lol, and be sharing them, so it can come down to opting for the least bad option of whatever is available. Personally I use Librewolf, just because at least there's significant aspects of firefox turned off, and config can be tweaked if see some good advice want to use, but am offline most of the time, only using the browser if really necessary. Use a few add-ons, as need to be a bit careful with those also ... uBlock Origin, Javascript Control, ClearURLs, uMatrix particularly are useful, then just a few bits eg Fixed Zoom add-on.

Firefox was never sold. They are a non profit group which now relys on ad revenue ever since Google's anti trust lawsuit.
Waterfox was sold to an ad revenue company several years back.

Whenever I install LibreWolf (or Firefox) new, the first thing I do is go into about:config and change these entries.

I'm using librewolf, it's very good, I really like it.

I'm configuring the browser, Linux distros can use librewolf and firefox as the default option, it would be really cool for users.

I liked librewolf, I'm going to try it.

You can start a different topic when you run into issues with LibreWolf.

You can mark the topic solved.

Thanks, I marked it resolved

siamhie wrote: Wed Mar 05, 2025 10:16 am
Waterfox was sold to an ad revenue company several years back.

More recently it was sold back to the original developer.

From yesterday: Mozilla revises Firefox Terms & Privacy Notice to address user concerns over data privacy
https://alternativeto.net/news/2025/3/m ... a-privacy/