Disaster Mozilla Firefox blocks anti-Censorship and pro-Privacy extensions in Russia - In direct contradiction of Mozilla's alleged "Commitment to an open Internet".

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Mozilla Corporation (the for-profit, mega corporation [Archive] behind the Firefox web browser) and the Mozilla Foundation (which owns the corporation) have begun banning access to censorship circumvention Firefox Extensions in Russia... in direct contradiction of the company's stated principles.

And this isn't the first time the Firefox maker has pursued a path of censorship of web users.

The Mozilla Principles​

The opening statement of the Mozilla Manifesto [Archive]-- the the documented core values which, supposedly, drive the work of Mozilla and Firefox -- reads as follows:

We are committed to an internet that includes all the peoples of the earth — where a person’s demographic characteristics do not determine their online access, opportunities, or quality of experience.

Likewise, the 2nd principle of the Mozilla Manifesto states:

Principle 2: The internet is a global public resource that must remain open and accessible.

In short: No matter who you are -- or where you live -- you should have open access to the Internet. That is, supposedly, a core part of the vision which drives the development of Firefox.

Mozilla Violating the Mozilla Principles​

In the last few days, Mozilla has begun restricting (read: censoring) access to several Firefox Extensions designed to circumvent censorship... for users in Russia.

As of the printing of this article, the following extensions have been banned -- by Mozilla -- in Russia:

• Censor Tracker
• Runet Censorship Bypass
• Planet VPN
• FastProxy

VPNs. Proxies. Censorship bypassing tools. Privacy tools. All are listed as "not available in your region" for users within Russia.

A few things that should be noted about this significant change by Mozilla:

• These Firefox Extensions are still available in other regions (including the USA).
• These Extensions were all available within Russia until a few days ago.
• The developers of these Extensions were not notified of this censorship by Mozilla.
• The use of tools designed to circumvent censorship is not illegal in Russia.
• This censorship was implemented by Mozilla... not any government.

The Lunduke Journal reached out to Mozilla with a number of questions.

• Why were these Firefox Extensions banned by Mozilla for users in Russia?
• Was there a request by the Russian government?
• Are there plans to extend this censorship of Firefox Extensions to other countries? (Many similar extensions remain available in countries and locales with far more restrictive laws than Russia.)
• How does the removal of these Extensions fit in with the core principles of Mozilla (outlined within the Mozilla Manifesto)? Will Mozilla be modifying their Manifesto to remove the commitment to an open Internet?

As of the publication of this article, no response has been provided. Likewise, no public statement -- of any kind -- has been made by Mozilla.

This is par for the course from Mozilla, a corporation with a track record of not interacting with critical press.

Open Internet for some... but not for others​

The fact that Mozilla is now actively removing access to privacy and censorship-resistance tools -- but only for specific people and groups -- should not be surprising.

This is, in fact, directly in-line with their stated goal of doing "more than deplatforming" of some people (but not others)... a goal their CEO stated back in 2021 [Archive].

While many of the remaining Firefox users (which is down to roughly 3% [Archive]) use the browser specifically for Mozilla's perceived commitment to a free and open Internet... that perception appears to be (at best) illusion.

At worst... an outright lie on the part of Mozilla.

 

[Spud]

In short: No matter who you are -- or where you live -- you should have open access to the Internet. That is, supposedly, a core part of the vision which drives the development of Firefox.

So long as you share our opinions and follow our belief systems. I want off now.

 

[Sneedenhagen Chew]

If anyone wants to document themselves getting banned from the Firefox subreddit for asking about this, the subreddit is hosting an AMA with big-wigs at the Mozilla Foundation (A) on Thursday, June 13th.

 

[Safir]

!!! This is bigger than the article says. Mozilla would have no reason to comply if they had no interests in Russia and no dealings with Putin -- just ignore the request (if any) and let RKN do their thing. This means they do.

 

[Celebrate Nite]

Mozilla has been fucked for quite some time, so this shouldn't surprise anyone. If you still preffer that over any chrome-based browsers, then go for the alternatives like LibreWolf

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

Yeah Firefox has basically been the browser of the rainbow people for years. Use Brave.

 

[i440BX]

Yeah Firefox has basically been the browser of the rainbow people for years. Use Brave.

I use brave in parallel with Firefox, since it is the most sane Chromium browser you can use.
I use primarily Firefox because of the Manifest V3 bullshit. But Mozilla foundation is such a disgrace to this browser.
When I reinstall my operating system in holiday, I will switch to Librewolf.

!!! This is bigger than the article says. Mozilla would have no reason to comply if they had no interests in Russia and no dealings with Putin -- just ignore the request (if any) and let RKN do their thing. This means they do.

Exactly. It would have been another thing to let Russians do their job.
But they involved themselves in this. This is insane. They are promoting aggressively woke agendas, but they comply to Russia.
Were they bribed by FSB (the new KGB)?

 

[Unarmed Gunman]

I use brave in parallel with Firefox, since it is the most sane Chromium browser you can use.
I use primarily Firefox because of the Manifest V3 bullshit. But Mozilla foundation is such a disgrace to this browser.

Brave is stripped of all Manifest V3 bullshit thanks to Brave Shields. No need to support a fuckstain organization like Mozilla.