Moz describes the feature as one that will sit beside the search bar on Firefox, routing web traffic through a Mozilla-managed VPN server, concealing the user’s real IP address while adding a layer of encryption to their communications.
Firefox VPN is a different project entirely from Mozilla VPN, a separate, paid-for product. The Firefox version will be free to use and confined to the browser itself, while Mozilla VPN can be used by up to five devices at a time.
Mozilla will only store users’ logs for three months before they are deleted, and only collect “the technical data needed to keep Firefox VPN reliable and secure.”
“For example, we may log whether a connection succeeded or failed, or record that your account used 2 GB of data on a certain day,” it said in a knowledgebase article.
Would be better if they actually provided a service like Psylo where each tab gets its own different connection to a different location. In other words, an SPN (of sorts) for your browser. That would actually add more value than just a VPN connection.
But, I don’t think I am going to recommend people use this. We need to know a lot more about it too.
I don’t understand the point of this. And what are the limitations? Free VPNs either have big limitations or collect a bunch of data… The collection of logs is also kind of disheartening.
This should be better thought out before they roll it out. So far, seems like a no-go to me.
They might limit it to 2GBs per day as per the article.
IMO, this could be good, if it really adds value. I am all for it if it leads to them improving their handling of VPN extensions, which is poor at best. Built-in WireGuard support would be nice,
No, they only log things like if your connection fails or how much data you use, not what sites you visit. It’s just technical logs so they can fix issues and provide the service.
They say “logs linked to your account” so at least for things like the amount of data you use, it’ll be linked to some kind of account. For things like overall bandwidth it’s aggregated among all users and not linked to your account, it’s all laid out in the support article there.
It’s still in the beta phase so I would expect more telemetry now than in the future, like all beta software.
Agreed. In a world with Psylo and Private Relay for Apple devices, Privacy Pass support for Kagi and per-container proxying with the Mozilla VPN extension, this does not seem very exciting from a privacy standpoint by Firefox/Mozilla.
I’m surprised they could not think of this feature/functionality to provide something truly unique in the browser space with their new VPN. I really don’t know what they do all day at Mozilla (besides just maintaining the project).
From the article, nothing alludes to rate-limiting:
For example, we may log whether a connection succeeded or failed, or record that your account used 2 GB of data on a certain day.
"This helps us improve performance, prevent abuse, and plan for growth.
No this is incorrect
This helps us improve performance, prevent abuse, and plan for growth. Logs linked to your account are automatically deleted after 3 months. Importantly, Firefox VPN never logs the websites you visit or the content of your communications.
