The nonprofit organization that supports the Firefox web browser said today it is winding down its new partnership with Onerep, an identity protection service recently bundled with Firefox that offers to remove users from hundreds of people-search sites. The move comes just days after a report by KrebsOnSecurity forced Onerep’s CEO to admit that he has founded dozens of people-search networks over the years.
[…]On March 14, KrebsOnSecurity published a story showing that Onerep’s Belarusian CEO and founder Dimitiri Shelest launched dozens of people-search services since 2010, including a still-active data broker called Nuwber that sells background reports on people. Onerep and Shelest did not respond to requests for comment on that story.
Brian Krebs
It’s good that Mozilla has immediately responded properly to this discovery, but it does make one wonder – how did this happen in the first place? It seems like a service provider like this would be thoroughly vetted, especially considering Mozilla’s stated mission and types of users. My worries about Firefox’ future are no secret, and this gaffe certainly doesn’t help reduce my worries.
It’s clear something went horribly wrong here, and my hope is that it’s a random fluke, and not a sign of more structural problems in Mozilla’s vetting process for potential partners.
Let’s be honest, companies like Onerep wouldn’t be needed if there were no people search engines. He’s just ensuring he has a constant stream of customers.
Why does Mozilla feel it needs to be in the identity protection business? I can’t think of any successful business they’ve tried, other than contributing to the development of a free software licensed browser. Firefox Phone – failed. Firefox OS – basically failed, although still in some amount of use. VPN – seems like that was a dud. Their AI will probably be a dud. I can’t imagine they made any real money off of Pocket.
The funny thing is that Firefox doesn’t really even need Mozilla to survive. It has been successfully forked off into various projects. Some of them have completely diverged to become independent code bases, such as Pale Moon and Basilisk and Seamonkey. Waterfox has successfully maintained both divergent and concurrent code bases at various times. This isn’t an impossible task – it’s freely licensed software, of the kind that communities of developers are attracted to.
In fact, looking at the past ~16 years of history, one would have to wonder if Mozilla is actually the primary hindrance to a successful Firefox browser, with their constant chasing after butterflies instead of focusing on the core product. Maybe Mozilla isn’t Firefox’s savior and protector after all, and the browser would flourish again if it was released from Mozilla’s grasp.
andyprough,
rustlang is certainly a successful project.
While it’s good to have alternative forks that improve features or even remove anti features, We should be honest that their relationship is asymmetric and they take a lot more than they produce. Without mozilla’s work, odds are none of the firefox forks will struggle to hold their own against the google monopoly without an injection of new resources. In the process of acquiring those resources, they may find themselves filling the same shoes as mozilla. “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
Wish I could edit. Obviously this is what I meant: