Mozilla Firefox Privacy Policy

Overview

In this privacy policy, we address the following:

• Definitions of the types of information
• What Firefox Sends to Websites
• Feature-by-Feature Description of Data Practices
• What Mozilla Does to Secure Data
• Government and Court Demands for Information
• Overview of Other Situations Involving Possibility of Data Disclosures
• Mozilla’s Approach to Data Retention
• How Mozilla Discloses Changes to this Policy
• How to Contact Mozilla about this Policy
• Appendix of Practices relating to Prior Versions of Firefox

Types of Information

“Personal Information” is information that you provide to us that personally identifies you, such as your name, phone number, or email address. Except as described below, Mozilla does not collect or require end-users of Firefox to provide Personal Information.

“Non-Personal Information” is information that cannot be directly associated with a specific person or entity. Non-Personal Information includes but is not limited to your computer’s configuration and the version of Firefox you use.

“Potentially Personal Information” is information that is Non-Personal Information in and of itself but that could be used in conjunction with other information to personally identify you. For example, Uniform Resource Locators (“URLs”) (the addresses of web pages) or Internet Protocol (“IP”) addresses (the addresses of computers on the Internet), which are Non-Personal Information in and of themselves, could be Personal Information when combined with Internet service provider (“ISP”) records.

“Aggregate Data” is information that is recorded about users and collected into groups so that it no longer reflects or references an individually identifiable user.

Information Firefox Sends to Websites and ISPs

Like other web browsers, Firefox sends Non-Personal and Potentially Personal Information to the websites you visit when requested by the website. This may include, e.g. the type of browser you are using, the type of device you are using (desktop, mobile, touch screen), your language preference, the referring site, and your IP address. If you are viewing a video, the buffering functionality of Firefox may allow the server hosting the video to determine which sections of the video you have actually played. This information may be logged by the websites you visit and the Internet Service Provider you are using. What information is logged and how that information is used depends on the policies of each of the websites you visit and the ISPs you use.

Each website determines its own privacy practices for the distribution and use of this Non- Personal Information and Potentially Personal Information. If you are concerned about how a website will use this information, check out its privacy policy. To find out more about how Mozilla uses this information on its own websites, see the Mozilla Privacy Policy.

Cookies

A cookie is information stored on your computer by a website you visit. Cookies often store your settings for a website, such as your preferred language or location. When you return to the site, Firefox sends back the cookies that belong to the site. This allows the site to present you with information customized to fit your needs. Cookies can store a wide range of information, including personally identifiable information (such as your name, home address, e-mail address, or telephone number). Because of their ability to store Personal Information, or references to such information, cookies can allow websites to track the online movements of particular individuals.

Firefox itself does not set any cookies on behalf of Mozilla.

By default, the activities of storing and sending cookies are invisible to you. However, you can change your Firefox settings to allow you to approve or deny cookie storage requests, delete stored cookies automatically when you close Firefox, and more. An article in our Firefox Knowledge Base gives you information about changing these preferences.

SMS Text Message Downloading (Firefox for mobile only)

In addition to downloading Firefox for mobile onto your mobile device from our download website, Mozilla provides an easy way to send yourself an SMS text message from the Firefox for mobile main website, which will include a download link. If you choose to send a text message, the mobile phone number you type into the box on the website will not be stored on any Mozilla servers.

Interactive Product Features

You Elect to Use the Location-Aware Feature

This feature remains inoperative until you visit a website that requests your location and you choose to opt in to the feature. If you elect not to, nothing happens. Each time you visit such a website, Firefox asks you if you want it to provide the site with your current location. Additionally, you may elect to have Firefox remember your choice to allow or not allow the feature for each site. Any such election is domain specific. You are able to opt out at any time of having Firefox remember your choice, just like any other preference setting.

What Information Firefox Collects

If you choose to allow it, the Firefox Location-Aware Feature first collects one or more of the following relevant location markers: (i) location provided by a GPS device built into or attached to your computer or device and/or geolocation services provided by the operating system; (ii) the wifi routers closest to you; (iii) cell ids of the cell phone broadcast towers closest to you; (iv) the signal strength of nearby wireless access points and/or cell phone broadcast towers; and/or (v) your computer or device’s IP address. Next, it attempts to determine your location using these location markers. Any information Firefox uses, receives or sends as part of this Location-Aware Feature is not received by any Mozilla servers or by Mozilla. Firefox does not track or remember your location. Firefox does remember a random client identifier, the temporary ID assigned by our third party provider to process your request, for two weeks.

Transmission of Geolocation Information to Third Parties

If your computer or device has a GPS unit or your operating system provides geolocation services and you have elected to use the location aware feature, Firefox will send your location information directly to the requesting website. If not, Firefox will send the other information described above, plus your user agent information (e.g., version of Firefox you’re using) and a temporary client identifier, to a third party geolocation services provider. That provider can determine your approximate location from such data (e.g., convert a set of WiFi signal strengths into latitude and longitude). This information is sent by Firefox over an encrypted connection and no cookies are used. Neither the domain name nor the URL of the site you’re visiting is sent to our service providers. Our providers estimate your location and return it to Firefox. Firefox provides your location information to the webpage that made the request.

Restrictions on How Third Party Providers Use the Location Information Received

Our policy is to require third-party providers to enter licensing agreements with Mozilla, which prohibit them from releasing Personal or Potentially Personal Information to the public. We only permit our third party providers to use this information in conjunction with the service(s) they are providing to us. They are required to ensure that any information collected on our behalf is anonymized and aggregated before they are permitted to use such information to develop new features or products and services, or to improve the overall quality of any of their products and services. For example, this means that they are required to ensure that your IP address and unique identifier of your client will be stripped out before being used by any of our third party provider’s other products or features. For more information on how our geolocation services providers use information sent by Firefox, please see the privacy policy links in our list of third-party service providers.

Third Party Privacy Policies

Please carefully consider any website or service provider's privacy practices before agreeing to share your location.

• Requesting Websites. For information on the use of location data sent back to the website, please see that website’s privacy policy.
• Location-Aware Service Providers. For information on how our service providers use the location data sent by Firefox, see the privacy policies linked from our list of third-party service providers.

Panorama Feature (not applicable to Firefox for mobile)

Starting with Firefox 4, Firefox provides Panorama, which manages your tab experience. Your tab usage and names are not sent to Mozilla, but rather reside locally on your device. The first time you run Panorama, a video may be presented to you explaining Panorama. The video or web page is hosted by Mozilla so Mozilla receives your IP address and date and time of receiving the video.

Firefox Sync Feature

The Firefox Sync feature is included in versions of Firefox beginning with Version 4. Firefox Sync allows you to synchronize certain data between your computers, mobile phones, and other devices that have the Firefox browser installed, by utilizing the Firefox Sync Services. (You can also use Sync with a syncing service hosted on a non-Mozilla server set up by yourself or a third party, but in that case this policy doesn’t apply to your use of such syncing service.) Examples of data you can synchronize include browsing history, form history, bookmarks, saved passwords, preferences, and open tabs. This data (“Firefox Sync User Data”) is stored on, manipulated, and transmitted to and from Mozilla’s servers by means of your use of the Firefox Sync Services. Firefox Sync User Data is encrypted on your computer before it is sent to Mozilla’s servers, so it is not available to Mozilla in a readable form. Mozilla uses SSL/TLS technology to ensure your Firefox Sync User Data is encrypted during transit.

In order to utilize the Sync functionality you must register for the Firefox Sync Services. During registration you will need to provide your email address and create a username and password (collectively “Account Data”). Your Account Data will be encrypted using SSL/TLS for transit. Your password will be stored on our servers in an encrypted form called a hash. This form of encryption disguises your password on the server, but still allows us to authenticate you when you sign into the Firefox Sync Services. Certain versions of Sync also ask you to create a secret phrase. The secret phrase is stored on your computer and is not sent to the Firefox Sync servers or to Mozilla. Mozilla does not collect any other Personal Information through Firefox Sync.

Mozilla receives and uses the following Non-Personal and Potentially Personal Information for the purpose of providing and improving the Firefox Sync Services: IP address, username, date and time of accessing the Firefox Sync Services, user agent string information such as the type of client OS and Firefox version in use, and aggregated operational data such as access log data and how many bookmarks, history, or tabs users have collectively created and synced.

The Firefox Sync Services also receive the host names you have given your devices that you are syncing. These names are used to label your tabs within Firefox Sync. If you don’t want to share your devices’ names, you should consider naming your devices with fanciful names rather than your actual name. The information is transmitted using SSL. Currently, you can opt out of having your devices named in Firefox Sync by visiting the Firefox preferences pane or about:config.

You can disconnect from the Firefox Sync Services and have your Account Data and Firefox Sync User Data removed from our servers at any time. On your computer, go to the “Tools” menu, highlight “Sync,” and click “Disconnect.” Then go to https://services.mozilla.com/delete-account/, and submit the form to request deletion of your Account Data and Firefox Sync User Data from our servers. If you are transferring a synced device to another party (such as if you are sharing, reselling, or donating your laptop or phone) you may wish to disconnect and then remove your Sync data from your device to avoid sharing it with the device recipient.

Personas Feature

Firefox’s Personas feature is a theme that lets you personalize the look of your browser.

Report Web Forgery Feature (not applicable to Firefox for mobile)

Firefox’s Report Web Forgery feature lets you report suspected web forgeries to Mozilla’s third party service provider(s) for the web forgery protection feature when you encounter a suspected malicious “phishing” or fraudulent website that is impersonating a legitimate website. This feature sends your comments about the suspected fraudulent website to our third-party provider(s), as well as the same information that the browser sends when you visit a website. Our policy is to require each of our third-party providers to enter into written agreements with Mozilla that prohibit them from releasing Potentially Personal Information to the public. Our policy is to only permit these third party providers to use this information in conjunction with the web forgery protection service they are providing. In addition, we require each third-party provider to maintain its own privacy policy that is linked to the online form where you report a potential web forgery. To prevent the third party provider from obtaining this information, don’t use this feature to report a web forgery. (Also see “Protection Against Suspected Forgery and Attack Sites Features” below.)

Usage Statistics (also known as Telemetry)

Beginning with version 7, Firefox includes functionality that is turned off by default to send to Mozilla non-personal usage, performance, and responsiveness statistics about user interface features, memory, and hardware configuration. The only Potentially Personal Information sent to Mozilla when this functionality has been enabled is IP addresses. Usage statistics are transmitted using SSL (a method of protecting data in transit) and help us improve future versions of Firefox. Once sent to Mozilla, usage statistics are stored in an aggregate form and made available to a broad range of developers, including both Mozilla employees and public contributors. Once this functionality is enabled, users can disable it in Firefox's Options/Preferences. Simply deselect the "Submit performance data" item.

Snippets

Firefox's default home page (<about:home>) loads snippets of info that we think will be useful to you. You can see them right below the search bar. Once per day, Firefox gets new snippets from Mozilla. Whenever you see a snippet, that snippet makes a request to Mozilla, so that we can count how often snippets are viewed.

This request to Mozilla only sends the name of the snippet and is securely transmitted over HTTPS. We only use the information from these requests to estimate what fraction of Firefox users click on each snippet, and we break down this info into general categories like Firefox version and geographic area. We will not use any of the information in this request to attempt to identify you or your activity anywhere else online, and we aggregate the info we receive into these general categories as soon as is practical.

Feedback Button and Test Pilot for Beta Users

If you installed a Firefox 4 beta and then got the general release version of Firefox 4 by clicking an “update” button, then your Firefox still has the feedback features you received as a beta user. If you installed a beta version of Firefox 4 for computers and then got the general release version of Firefox 4 by clicking a “download” button, you still have the Test Pilot add-on as an extension to Firefox. The privacy policy for Feedback is here and for Test Pilot is here. If you decide to remove Test Pilot or Feedback from Firefox on your computer, you can do so under the Tools menu in Firefox by selecting add-ons in the drop down menu and then uninstall. If you decide to remove Beta Tester Tools from Firefox on your mobile device, you can do so under the Add-ons Manager pane in the Browser Controls window by selecting the add-on in the extension list and clicking "Disable."

Security

Mozilla is committed to protecting your personal information from unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. We undertake a range of security measures including physical access restraints, technical security monitoring, and internal security reviews of the environment. We also have policies in place to prohibit employees from viewing personal information without business justification. Additionally, it is our policy to ensure that Mozilla employees and contractors are bound by confidentiality obligations.

Beginning with Firefox 2.0, Mozilla has additional security features, some of which are provided by third-party service providers.

The security features available depend on the version of Firefox you are using. Please see the end of this privacy policy for older versions of Firefox.

Legal Process and Other Disclosures

Consistent with our privacy commitments, we will scrutinize third party requests for information about you for compliance with the law, including those coming from governmental agencies or civil litigants. We may access, use, preserve or disclose information about you only when we have a good faith belief that it is reasonably necessary to do so to satisfy the applicable law, regulation, legal process or lawful governmental request of any country, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Mozilla, its users or the public. We will provide notice of legal process or governmental requests unless prohibited to do so by law or the circumstances warrant otherwise.

What and When We Share with Third Parties

Mozilla’s policy is to make Personal Information, such as your name and email address, and Potentially Personal Information, such as the URL of the site you last visited, only available to its employees, contractors, and selected contributors who signed confidentiality agreements that prohibit them from using or disclosing such information other than for approved Mozilla purposes.

We also work with third parties who provide infrastructure or back-end services (like content delivery networks, bandwidth providers, and services of an administrative nature). We may share Personal Information about you with such third parties for the purpose of enabling these third parties to provide such services.

Additionally, Mozilla may need to transfer Personal Information to an affiliate or successor in the event of a change of our corporate structure or status, such as in the event of a restructuring, sale, or bankruptcy.

Transfer of Data to the U.S.

Mozilla is a global organization and operates in different countries. Privacy laws and common practices vary from country to country. Some countries may provide for less legal protection of your personal data; others may provide more legal protection. By using Firefox, you consent to the transfer of the information collected, as outlined by this Policy, to Mozilla or its third party service providers in the United States, the Netherlands, and other places where our distributed, third party content delivery network exists (which is in several countries around the world), which countries may provide a lesser level of data security than in your country of residence.

Data Retention

We will retain any information collected for the period necessary to fulfill the purposes outlined in this Policy unless a longer retention period is required by law and/or regulations.

Privacy Policy Changes

Mozilla may change the Firefox Privacy Policy from time to time. Any and all changes will be reflected on this page. Substantive changes may also be announced through the standard mechanisms by which Mozilla communicates with its users and community, such as Mozilla's "announce" mailing list and newsgroup. It is your responsibility to ensure that you understand the terms of this Privacy Policy. You should periodically check this page for any changes to the current policy.

For More Information

You may request access, correction, or deletion of Personal Information or Potentially Personal Information, as permitted by law. We will seek to comply with such requests, provided that we have sufficient information to identify the Personal Information or Potentially Personal Information related to you.

Any such requests or other questions or concerns regarding this Policy and Mozilla's data protection practices should be addressed to:

Mozilla Corporation
Attn: Legal Notices - Privacy
2 Harrison St
San Francisco, CA 94105
Phone: +1-650-903-0800
E-mail: privacy@mozilla.com

Appendix for Pre-Firefox 4.0