Privacy News Mozilla just ditched its privacy partner because its CEO is tied to data brokers

[enaph]

Content source

https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/22/24109116/mozilla-ends-onerep-data-removal-partnership

Mozilla is ending its partnership with Onerep after the company’s CEO admitted to having ties to a data broker, as first reported by Krebs on Security. “Though customer data was never at risk, the outside financial interests and activities of Onerep’s CEO do not align with our values,” writes Mozilla’s vice president of communications Brandon Borrman, in a statement provided to The Verge.
In February, Mozilla bundled Onerep’s data removal service into its new $8.99 per month Monitor Plus subscription. The service let users hunt down their personal information on the web and submit takedown requests across dozens of websites — all through Mozilla’s partnership with Onerep.

However, an in-depth report from Krebs on Security found that Onerep’s CEO Dimitri Shelest started “dozens” of people-search websites over the course of several years. Shelest later published a statement admitting that he still holds an ownership stake in Nuwber, which lets visitors search for people based on their name, phone number, address, or email. Shelest says there is “zero cross-over or information-sharing” between Nuwber and Onerep.
“I get it. My affiliation with a people search business may look odd from the outside,” Shelest’s statement reads. “In truth, if I hadn’t taken that initial path with a deep dive into how people search sites work, Onerep wouldn’t have the best tech and team in the space. Still, I now appreciate that we did not make this more clear in the past and I’m aiming to do better in the future.”
Following Shelest’s statement, Mozilla decided to end its short-lived partnership with Onerep. “We’re working now to solidify a transition plan that will provide customers with a seamless experience and will continue to put their interests first,” Borrman tells The Verge. Mozilla didn’t immediately say whether it will find another partner to replace Onerep, or if it will discontinue the service altogether.

 

[SumTingWong]

Now users information is back on the internet

 

[Practical Response]

Information is one of the most lucrative items on the planet now days, what's to stop any entity that claims privacy for its users from divulging to 3rd party in the background?

One can either take the paranoid approach which is pointless, or they can come to terms with going onto the internet is very much like going out into public in which neither should you "expect" privacy.

 

[oneeye]

It's been my experience, most people just don't bother to opt out of sharing their data to 3rd parties, or block being served relevant ads, or even bother to employ adblockers. And in situations where you can't, just add more noise to confuse your data to the point of irrelevancy. It's actually hilarious when I actually do see an ad somewhere! They have no idea who I actually am, what I actually like.