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Polaris — an Initiative Dedicated to Internet Privacy

posted by martyb on Tuesday November 11 2014, @10:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the is-true-anonymity-still-possible? dept.

novak writes:

Mozilla is starting an initiative called Polaris, together with other privacy-centric organizations. https://blog.mozilla.org/privacy/2014/11/10/introducing-polaris-privacy-initiative-to-accelerate-user-focused-privacy-online/

Polaris does not refer to a single product or software program, but rather to an initiative dedicated to advancing user privacy across the internet. Components of the project include:

  • Working to stop tracking code.
  • TOR support.

This will include a number of Mozilla hosted TOR middle relays to boost the network. Here's the wiki with more details.

 
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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:02AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:02AM (#114778)

    Is this the same Mozilla that recently started gathering user data so it can be sold to the highest bidder? They probably just want to be involved so they can weaken the technology and have an inside track on how to thwart anything that comes out of this initiative.

    Sorry Mozilla, you're not who you used to be.

  • (Score: 1) by nishi.b on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:21AM

    by nishi.b (4243) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:21AM (#114779)
    From the website, they want to add more control on how personal data will be used for ad targetting. In my case, no targetting at all please, but the language seems oddly tracker-websites-friendly :
    Objective
    Websites need to be able to deliver and monetize the content they create. Users want more protection from online tracking. Tracking Protection is a new platform-level technology that blocks HTTP loads at the network level. Coupled with a user-declared opt-out, such as Do Not Track, we will explore various paths that can provide users with more safety while allowing websites to reliably deliver ads that meet or exceed consumer's tracking preferences.

    • (Score: 2) by tibman on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:07PM

      by tibman (134) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @06:07PM (#114926)

      Sounds like a trusted 3rd party to deliver only the trackable information that the end-user has authorized.

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    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday November 12 2014, @04:30AM

      by takyon (881) <{takyon} {at} {soylentnews.org}> on Wednesday November 12 2014, @04:30AM (#115088) Journal

      Let's say Mozilla replaced all private windows with Tor windows, and an additional click in the options enabled built-in anti-tracking features like Privacy Badger.

      (made up numbers) 70% of the userbase doesn't use any of this. 25% of the userbase uses a Tor "private window" sometimes. 5% of the userbase actually uses the full extent of privacy features and other add-ons. This is a win-win for everybody except the user who expects privacy but doesn't bother learning more.

      we will explore various paths that can provide users with more safety while allowing websites to reliably deliver ads that meet or exceed consumer's tracking preferences.

      Polaris features will apparently be tested and refined (based on user feedback) in nightly releases, so Firefox's chosen approach will eventually become clear.

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  • (Score: 2) by mtrycz on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:07PM

    by mtrycz (60) on Tuesday November 11 2014, @11:07PM (#115003)

    Do you have any links on your claims? I want to trust mozilla, for al it has done in the past, but day by day it's just eroding.

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