September 25, 2024 at 10:21AM
Vienna-based privacy non-profit, noyb, filed a complaint against Mozilla for enabling a new feature, Privacy Preserving Attribution (PPA), in Firefox without users’ explicit consent. PPA tracks user behavior on websites, leading to concerns about privacy violations and alleged similarities to Google’s Privacy Sandbox project. Noyb asserts that enabling PPA by default without user consent violates E.U.’s GDPR.
From the meeting notes, it is clear that there is a complaint filed by the privacy non-profit organization noyb against Mozilla for enabling the Privacy Preserving Attribution (PPA) feature without obtaining explicit user consent. The PPA feature in Firefox version 128 is designed to allow websites to track the performance of their ads without collecting data about individual users, through the use of encryption, distributed aggregation protocol, and differential privacy. However, noyb has raised concerns that enabling PPA by default violates the European Union’s stringent data protection regulations, specifically the GDPR, as it interferes with user rights and does not replace cookies but rather provides an alternative way for websites to target advertising. Additionally, noyb criticized Mozilla for not seeking user permissions and for implying that users are unable to make an informed decision about the feature. As a result, noyb is seeking to address these concerns with the Austrian data protection authority.
Overall, the meeting notes highlight the controversy surrounding the implementation of the PPA feature in Firefox and the potential implications for user privacy and compliance with data protection regulations.