Can online advertising thrive without exploiting your personal data? At Mozilla, we believe it not only can, but must.
For over two decades, Mozilla has championed an internet that prioritizes user privacy, often standing apart from an industry accustomed to unfettered use of personal data. We understand that without advertising, many of the services and information on the internet would not be freely available — and that’s not the future we want, either. However, we don’t agree with the traditional advertising model that collects personal data and tracks users across the internet.
Mozilla has a responsibility, as a part of our Mozilla Manifesto, to support and maintain a healthy internet ecosystem, and this includes advertising. We have a unique opportunity to reinvent how the ad industry works by building a model where ads are relevant and effective, while also respecting people’s privacy. This means reimagining how advertising technologies work, from the ground up. Our goal is to shift the ad industry to become more respectful of people’s privacy.
At Mozilla, we see this as an opportunity to challenge the status quo with solutions that enable an advertising ecosystem that is both user-friendly and sustainable.
Reinventing advertising to protect privacy
Studies have shown that privacy-minded advertising is something consumers want. Arguments that set up a binary situation — user privacy or revenue-generating advertising — are missing an important point: User privacy and business success are not mutually exclusive if the ads are relevant and users can control their data.
Most advertising models begin with the question, “How much data can we gather to improve ad targeting?” At Mozilla, we ask: “How can we ensure effective ad delivery while using the least amount of user data?” “What technologies can we use to manage the data so that no data on individual users is revealed to anyone, including Mozilla?”
This is the idea behind our testing of Privacy-Preserving Attribution (PPA): It’s a way to help advertisers measure how well their ads are doing without compromising user privacy. PPA uses smart cryptographic techniques to share aggregated stats but keeps user data completely private. Unlike traditional methods, it doesn’t track you, reveal your identity, or share personal info. It’s all about balancing ad effectiveness with respect for privacy.
While PPA was still in testing mode, the idea of Mozilla experimenting with an advertising model caught some members of the Firefox community by surprise. That taught us an important lesson: We need to better communicate with our community and bring them along with us on these exploratory journeys, in the spirit of full transparency. We have not strayed from our commitment to protect user privacy, and we want to be clear that our intentions and process remain aligned with our Manifesto.
The advertising industry — a nearly $1 trillion global industry with almost 80% of it digital in the US — isn’t going to go away. Ignoring this reality won’t change it, but by participating in it in a privacy-respecting way, Mozilla can set an example and show that effective, relevant advertising and consumer privacy can co-exist.
Focusing on good tech and people, not profits
So far, there hasn’t been much incentive for change in the current ad climate. Market share is concentrated among a few big players, regulation has been piecemeal at best, and the assumption is that personal user data is necessary for advertising to work. We know that’s not the case and we’re working with the industry to solve that together.
Mozilla’s structure enables us to challenge historical industry models without the financial pressures public companies face. We are accountable to the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation, which allows us to prioritize long-term privacy values over immediate profit. As a result, we can focus on technology innovations that benefit people and uphold our vision of an open, trustworthy and accessible web.
Creating a privacy-friendly ad system
Advertising supports much of the internet’s free content and services today. Ensuring that this model evolves responsibly is essential to maintaining access for all. At Mozilla, we see this as an opportunity to challenge the status quo with solutions that enable an advertising ecosystem that is both user-friendly and sustainable.
With our recent acquisition of Anonym, we are taking a major step toward proving that advertising can respect user privacy while remaining effective. Anonym’s technology uses encrypted data sets and aggregation technology to de-identify individual user data, keeping it hidden from platforms and advertisers. This creates a viable alternative to the privacy-exposing data sharing that takes place today and enables effective, privacy-safe digital ad campaigns.
We are still at the beginning of this journey, and we’re prepared for the complexities ahead. We believe the future of advertising can work for everyone. We’re committed to building an advertising ecosystem that respects privacy and builds richer online experiences at the same time.
