Mozilla updates its Firefox Add-on Policy

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Mozilla will make changes to Firefox Add-on policies in June 2019 that are designed to improve user safety and privacy when using extensions.

Starting in June 2019, extensions may no longer contain obfuscated code. Caitlin Neiman, Mozilla's Add-ons Community Manager notes that extensions may still use minified, concatenated or otherwise machine-generated code, but that the source code needs to be included and that obfuscation is not allowed anymore.

Mozilla will improve the blocking process as well to block extensions "more proactively" if they violate policies.

The organization changed the review process from "review first, publish second" to an automated review system. Granted, add-ons are still reviewed manually which sets the process apart from how Google handles Chrome extension reviews.

Mozilla announced a new Recommended Extensions program in April to promote excellent extensions for Firefox. These would be reviewed before they are published, and promoted in various places.

Add-on Policies

All extensions released for Firefox need are subject to the policies regardless of how they are distributed. Mozilla reviewers will use the policies as a guideline to determine whether an add-on is safe or in violation of the policies. Violating add-ons will be blocked by the organization.

Mozilla's new policies for add-ons address several add-ons related issues of the past; it requires that add-ons come with a description that clearly states what changes they make, that changes must be opt-in, must disclose if payment is required, must only request necessary permissions, and must disclose data collection, storage, and user data sharing policies.

A large part of the policy focuses on data collection and user privacy. Mozilla notes that add-ons need to disclose when they use cookies and describe the purpose of the cookies clearly, and that add-ons need to provide users with options to refuse the storage of cookies or access to cookies. Furthermore, add-ons need to inform users about the consequences should they choose to disallow cookies or disallow access to them.

The collection of personal information is prohibited without user consent, and the collection of personal information not required for the add-ons "basic functionality" is prohibited as well. Add-ons may not leak local or user-sensitive data to websites.

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