Firefox Add-ons

Website Visitors

Except as described below, the Mozilla Foundation ("Mozilla") does not collect or require visitors to its Web sites to furnish personally-identifying information such as names, email addresses and phone numbers. Like most Web site operators, Mozilla collects non-personally-identifying information of the sort that web browsers and servers typically make available, such as the browser type, language preferences, referring site, and date and time of each visitor request. Mozilla also collects potentially personally-identifying information like Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, which are non-personally identifying in and of themselves but could be used in conjunction with other information to personally identify users.

Mozilla's purpose in collecting this information is to better understand how Mozilla's visitors use its Web sites. To that end, Mozilla may share potentially personally-identifying information with its employees, contractors, and its subsidiaries and related organizations. Mozilla may also release non-personally-identifying information about visitors (e.g., by publishing a report on Web site usage trends). Otherwise, Mozilla will not publicly release potentially personally-identifying information except under the same circumstances as Mozilla releases personally-identifying information. Those circumstances are explained below.

Community Members

Certain members of the Mozilla community (contributors, customers, etc.) choose to interact with Mozilla in ways that require Mozilla and others to know more about them. The amount and type of information that Mozilla gathers from those members depends on the nature of the interaction. For example, members who wish to post content to certain portions of Mozilla's Web sites or participate in live chat session(s) are asked to provide usernames that identify that content as having been posted by a particular member. Developers, by comparison, are asked to provide contact information, up to and sometimes including telephone or fax numbers, so that they can be contacted as necessary. Customers of the Mozilla store are asked to provide even more information, including billing and shipping addresses and credit card or similar information. In each case, Mozilla collects personally-identifying information only insofar as is necessary to fulfill the purpose of the community member's interaction with Mozilla.

Mozilla is an open organization that believes in sharing as much information as possible about its products, its operations and its associations. Accordingly, community members should assume—as should most folks who interact with Mozilla—that any personally-identifying information provided to Mozilla will be made available to the public. There are three broad exceptions to that rule:

1. Mozilla does not publicly release information gathered in connection with commercial transactions (i.e., transactions involving money), including transactions conducted through the Mozilla Store or donations to the Mozilla Foundation.
2. Mozilla does not make publicly available information that is used to authenticate users the publication of which would compromise the security of Mozilla's Web sites (e.g., passwords).
3. Mozilla does not make publicly available information that it specifically promises at the time of collection to maintain in confidence.

Outside those three contexts, visitors should assume that personally-identifying information provided through Mozilla's Web sites will be made available to the public.

Interactive Product Features

Certain Mozilla products contain features that report, or that permit users to report, the user's usage patterns and problems—whether caused by Mozilla's software, third party software, or third-party Web sites—to Mozilla. The reports generated by these features typically include non-personally-identifying information such as the configuration of the user's computer and the code running at the time the problem occurred. Some of the features give users the option of providing personally-identifying information, though none of these features require it. Some Mozilla software features that do permit users to provide personally-identifying information advise, in advance, that such information will not be made publicly available. Mozilla analyzes the information provided by these interactive product features to develop a better understanding of how its products are performing and being used. It does not use the information to track the usage of its products by identifiable individuals.

Protection of Certain Personally-Identifying Information

Where Mozilla has collected personally-identifying information subject to one of the three exceptions described in the Contributors and Customers section, above, it discloses that information only to those of its employees, contractors and its subsidiaries and related organizations that need to know that information in order to process it on Mozilla's behalf and that have agreed not to disclose it to others. Some of those employees, contractors and subsidiaries and related organizations may be located outside of a visitor's home country; by using Mozilla's Web sites, the visitor consents to the transfer of his/her information to them. Mozilla does not rent or sell such information to anyone. Other than to its employees, contractors or its subsidiaries and related organizations, as described above, Mozilla discloses such information only when required to do so by law, or when Mozilla believes in good faith that disclosure is reasonably necessary to protect the property or rights of Mozilla, members of the Mozilla community, or the public at large. Mozilla takes all measures reasonably necessary to protect against the unauthorized access, use, alteration or destruction of such information.

Updating of Personally-Identifying Information

Mozilla permits users to freely update and correct their personally-identifying information as maintained by Mozilla. To do so, users should look for links or contact information available on whichever Mozilla Web sites store the relevant information (e.g., Bugzilla users should go to https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/userprefs.cgi?tab=account), or contact Mozilla by email.

Cookies and Clear GIFs

What Are Cookies? A cookie is a string of information that a Web site stores on a visitor's computer, and that the visitor's browser provides to the Web site each time the visitor returns. Most major web sites use cookies. Because the browser provides this cookie information to the website at each visit, cookies serve as a sort of label that allows a website to "recognize" a browser when it returns to the site. The domain name in Mozilla cookies will clearly identify their affiliation with Mozilla and, where applicable, its third party service provider.

What Are Clear GIFs? Clear gifs (also known as web beacons) are used in combination with cookies to help web site operators understand how visitors interact with their websites. A clear gif is typically a transparent graphic image (usually 1 pixel x 1 pixel) that is placed on a site. The use of a clear gif allows the site to measure the actions of the visitor opening the page that contains the clear gif. It makes it easer to follow and record the activities of a recognized browser, such as the path of pages visited at a website.

How We Use Cookies and Clear GIFs. Mozilla's Web sites use cookies and may use clear gifs in the future. These tools help Mozilla identify and track visitors, their usage of Mozilla Web sites, and their Web site access preferences across multiple requests and visits to Mozilla's Web sites. The basic idea is to gather aggregate data about how people use the Mozilla Web sites. The term usually used to describe this is "web analytics" and the cookies and clear gifs are the tools by which a website owner collects this web analytics data. Mozilla will use the web analytics data only to determine aggregate usage patterns for our Web sites as described above. The Mozilla Web sites (.org domains) do this using Mozilla's own internal analytics software, and currently do not utilize third party service providers. Mozilla uses the information provided by cookies and clear gifs to develop a better understanding of how Mozilla's visitors use Mozilla's Web sites, and to facilitate those visitors' interactions with Mozilla's Web sites. Mozilla may make the aggregate data it obtains publicly available. If the data is made available, none of the information will be personally-identifying information or potentially-personally-identifying information.

How to Control the Use of Cookies. Mozilla visitors have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Mozilla visitors who do not wish to have cookies placed on their computers by Mozilla, its contractors, or third-party service providers should set their browsers to refuse cookies before linking to Mozilla's Web sites. Certain features of Mozilla's Web sites may not function properly without the aid of cookies.

Privacy Policy Changes

Mozilla may change its Privacy Policy from time to time. Any and all changes will be reflected on this page. Substantive changes will also be announced through the standard mechanisms through which Mozilla communicates with the Mozilla community, including Mozilla's "Mozilla-announce" mailing list and newsgroup.

For More Information

If you have questions about this privacy policy, please contact Mozilla at: privacy@mozilla.org.