March 31, or “three thirty-one,” is something of a talisman in the Mozilla community. It’s the date that, back in 1998, Mozilla first came into being — the date that we open-sourced the Netscape code for the world to use.

This year, “three thirty-one” is especially meaningful: It’s Mozilla’s 25 year anniversary.

A lot has changed since 1998. Mozilla is no longer just a bold idea. We’re a family of organizations — a nonprofit, a public benefit-corporation, and others — that builds products, fuels movements, and invests in responsible tech.

And we’re no longer a small group of engineers in Netscape’s Mountain View office. We’re technologists, researchers, and activists located around the globe — not to mention tens of thousands of volunteers.

But if a Mozillian from 1998 stepped into a Mozilla office (or joined a Mozilla video call) in 2023, I think they’d quickly feel something recognizable. A familiar spirit, and a familiar set of values.   

When Mozilla open-sourced our browser code 25 years ago, the reason was the public interest: We wanted to spark more innovation, more competition, and more choice online. Technology in the public interest has been our manifesto ever since — whether releasing Firefox 1.0 in 2004, or launching Mozilla.ai earlier this year.

Right now, technology in the public interest seems more important than ever before. The internet today is deeply entwined with our personal lives, our professional lives, and society at large. The internet today is also flawed. Centralized control reduces choice and competition. A focus on “engagement” magnifies outrage, and bad actors are thriving.  

Right now — and over the next 25 years — Mozilla can do something about this. 

Mozilla’s mission and principles are evergreen, and we will continue to evolve to meet the needs and challenges of the modern internet. How people use the internet will change over time, but the need for innovative products that give individuals agency and choice on the internet is a constant. Firefox has evolved from a faithful and efficient render of web pages on PCs to a cross-platform agent that acts on behalf of the individual, protecting them from bad actors and surveillance capitalists as they navigate the web. Mozilla has introduced new products, such as Firefox Relay and Mozilla VPN, to keep people’s identity protected and activity private as they use the internet. Mozilla is contributing to healthy public discourse, with Pocket enabling discovery of amazing content and the mozilla.social Mastodon instance supporting decentralized, community-driven social media.

We’re constantly exploring ways to apply new technologies so that people feel the benefits in their everyday lives, as well as inspire others to responsibly innovate on behalf of humanity. As AI emerges as a core building block for the future of computing, we’ll turn our attention in that direction and ask: How can we make products and technologies like machine learning work in the public interest? We’ve already started this work via Mozilla.ai, a new Mozilla organization focusing on a trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI ecosystem. And via the Responsible AI Challenge, where we’re convening (and funding) bright people and ambitious projects building trustworthy AI.  

And we will continue to champion public policy that keeps the internet healthy. There is proposed legislation around the world that seeks to maintain the internet in the public interest: the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act (PATA) in the U.S., the Digital Services Act (DSA) in the EU. Mozilla has helped shape these laws, and we will continue to follow along closely with their implementation and enforcement.  

On this “three thirty-one,” I’m realistic about the challenges facing the internet. But I’m also optimistic about Mozilla’s potential to address them. And I’m looking forward to another 25 years of not just product, but also advocacy, philanthropy, and policy in service of a better internet. 

The post A quarter century of Mozilla appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Looking ahead at Mozilla’s next quarter century

In the world of tech, some challenges can feel impossible to solve. That was the feeling many of us had 25 years ago — before we’d heard of Mozilla. 

I was one of those people who’d been excited by the openness and creativity of the web from the first moment I saw it. And, in turn, I was also one of those people who was sad (and maybe even angry) when Microsoft tried to lock the web down inside its Internet Explorer monopoly. By the late 90s, the web had become broken and banal. 

When it launched on March 31, 1998, Mozilla set out a bold goal: rally a community to create an open-source browser that would turn the tide, putting the web back in the hands of people everywhere. Breaking a monopoly with people power seemed like an impossible task. Yet, over the course of five years, this is exactly what the Mozilla community did with Firefox. 

As Mozilla turns 25 today, it feels like we’re in a similar spot — and that Mozilla and its community are being called to make the impossible possible, again.

The internet gives most of us a big sense of joy and connection. It’s where we connect with friends and family. It’s where we laugh. It’s where we fall in love. Yet, as the internet has fallen back into the hands of a few big companies over the last decade, it’s also started to grate on many of us. It feels more and more like someone else is in control of our online lives. And, in many ways they are. 

Shifting this trajectory — pushing things in a more trustworthy, competitive, and vibrant direction again — can feel impossible. It’s a big, daunting task. But as someone who still believes the internet can be a force for empowerment and human connection, it’s a task we need to tackle. And I’m somewhat optimistic. We’ve done it before. 

When I think about Mozilla’s next 25 years, I think about doubling down on the playbook that worked the first time: gathering a community of people who want to make the impossible possible. Diving into the world of trustworthy AI over the last few years, I’ve met many such people — thinkers and builders and inventors and dreamers who want AI to look dramatically different.  

People like Anne Kim, CEO of Secure AI Labs (SAIL), which uses AI to advance medical research — but also protect patient privacy. Anne’s work is about harnessing the power of AI without making compromises. 

People like Deb Raji, who started the Mozilla Open Source Audit Tooling (OAT) Project. Deb is shepherding AI audits from a theoretical concept to an actual discipline, like auto emissions tests and food inspections. 

People like Pelonomi Moiloa, co-founder of Lelapa AI. Pelonomi and Lelapa are building AI that’s made for Africans by Africans: their needs, their devices, their languages. It’s a local and thoughtful approach to building technology. 

And people like Kasia Chmielinski, co-founder of The Data Nutrition Project, which interrogates the quality of datasets that train AI.  

These are all people who I’ve been lucky enough to meet recently through Mozilla. They are realistic about the challenges ahead. But they also know it’s worth rolling up their sleeves and doing something about it. 

That part — the community of people with purpose rolling up their sleeves — is very much like what happened 25 years ago. What’s different is that Anne, Deb, Pelonomi, Kasia and so many other people like them that I have met are building their own products and projects. And have their own communities. Collectively, they are working on something much more powerful than a single open source project. They are creating a wave of ideas and tech that could push the internet — including AI — in a dramatically different direction. 

In my view, this is key to making the impossible possible again. If we want to push things in a different direction in this next era, we need more than one or two new products like Firefox — we need a wave. 

This thinking drives what we’re doing in Mozilla’s current product development (looking for many products to advance our Manifesto). It’s what spurred us to start Mozilla Ventures (we’ve invested in Anne and Pelonomi’s companies) and Mozilla.ai (Kasia is a product specialist here). And, it’s what’s behind the movement building work that we do through our advocacy and philanthropy programs (Deb is one of our fellows). 

On our 25th anniversary (today!), it’s important to recognize that Mozilla has a proud history. But it’s even more important to look to the future: to envision an internet that is a better and more inclusive place in 25 years than it is today. I am deeply committed to supporting and connecting people around the world who want to make this vision come to life. As we look to the future, this is the most important work that Mozilla can do. 

The post Making the impossible possible — again appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

As the saying goes, looking for a job is a job in itself. First, there’s all the writing that needs to be done. Then, it’s doing your homework to learn about the companies and the industries you’re applying and hopefully interviewing for. Lastly, it’s your state of mind, remaining positive despite the many obstacles you’ll encounter. Whether you’re looking for a job for the first time or your current position was recently eliminated, we’ve got your essential list of recommended Firefox extensions to help put your best foot forward and get that job offer. 

Writing errors be gone with LanguageTool extension

Your resume, LinkedIn profile and your cover letters are each going to have a unique format and tone. Yes, you can take the easy way and simply cut and paste the same words for each of these formats, but if you want to stand out from the crowd, you’ll need to customize each one. Your resume will need to sound professional, your LinkedIn profile personable, and lastly, your cover letter will need to be a combination of professional yet personable. To help you write and avoid spelling and grammar errors, we’re recommending the LanguageTool extension. More than 250,000 users currently use the LanguageTool extension. Benefits to using the LanguageTool extension include:

• Go beyond the default spell checker: Detect commonly confused words and punctuation use. Plus, it offers style suggestions to level up your writing: synonym replacements for overused words, concise rephrasing of wordy sentences and alternatives to commonly used expressions.
• More than 25 languages supported: Includes English, Spanish, French, German and Polish. The full list of languages is available here.
• Privacy is important: By default, the text is sent over a securely encrypted connection to languagetool.org  and you don’t need to sign up for an account to use this extension. 

Organize your bookmarks with the Default Bookmark Folder extension

Did you know the rounded star in your address bar is the way to bookmark sites? If you’re a frequent user of bookmarks, you likely have your go-to sites on your bookmark toolbar or a long list in the bookmark menu. If you’re ready to elevate your bookmark game, the Default Bookmark Folder extension is here to help (exclusively for Firefox users). 

You may find this extension most helpful in your job search when you’re visiting various sites to glean information on the companies or the industries you’re considering. You just bookmark the sites and label the folder, then you can quickly retrieve and review the sites before your call with the recruiter, hiring manager or the interview panel. Bonus: They have shortcuts to save you time:

• Quick bookmark shortcut: Alt+Shift+D. Then select where the new bookmarks will be added.
• Quick bookmarking to folder: Alt+Shift+M. Search and select a specific folder within your bookmarks where you want to save the current page.

Keep tabs on your tabs with Simple Tab Groups extension

Attention tab hoarders! If you’re ready to do some spring cleaning and organize your job search tabs, we’ve got you covered. The Simple Tab Groups extension lets you select a group of tabs and move it to the background or foreground. It’s perfect for quickly switching to specific tab groups when you have multiple jobs you’re interviewing for. Here’s what users had to say about this extension:

• “This add-on is absolutely wonderful and I can’t even begin to imagine using Firefox without it. Being able to organize tabs into different groups is a game changer. And being able to easily switch between them makes research (for Linux, gaming, writing, entertainment) is simply wonderful. It’s also easy to use, to move tabs around and to save and backup groups. It even saves ungrouped tabs for later. I love this!”
• “I use 5-7 groups for the various customers I work on + 2-3 for internal projects, with 4-5 tabs in each group. It allows me to keep tabs open when I come back to a group, which I find invaluable. I could achieve the same result with bookmarks I guess, but I’d have to open the tabs vs using STG…”

Manage your time with the Tomato Clock extension

Setting time aside to look for jobs, network, research and unwind can be exhausting. The Tomato Clock extension is based on a well-known time management method, the Pomodoro technique. It uses a timer to break down your sessions into 25 minute ”tomato” intervals separated by short breaks, so you can avoid getting derailed with those endless rabbit holes of information.

Firefox extensions for the win

We hope these recommended Firefox extensions will help you on your journey to landing your next gig. Most Firefox extensions are created by our community of loyal Firefox users, and we invite you to explore and try other extensions to help you accomplish whatever you set out to do, whether it’s searching for a job or enjoying a saved article, whenever you go online.

For more on Firefox extensions, read on:

• These 3 new Firefox Android extensions will help simplify your life
• Ad blocker roundup: 6 ad blockers to improve your internet experience
• How Firefox’s Total Cookie Protection and container extensions work together
• Peace of mind browser add-ons for Firefox

The post Land your next job with these Firefox extensions appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Over the past 20 years, I’ve focused on consumer-driven businesses. From factories making jeans (at Levi’s) to the largest retailer/company (Walmart) to early years of social-driven commerce (at ModCloth), getting to what drives consumer behavior is where I love to spend my time.

When I joined Choose Energy as an early employee and CEO, I hoped if we could consumerize electricity, we could change the grid. If I told you it was the cost difference of a latte a month to change to green power, it’d be a no-brainer. I was wrong. People don’t understand their bills (what’s a kWh?), what drives their bills (hint, it’s not the kids leaving the lights on), nor how to understand the cost (is 18¢/kWh a lot?). When you build a marketplace based on those things, it’s a challenge. Consumers know they *could* change their provider (for half of the US where you have the choice), but it’s probably item 8 on their to-do list, right behind rebalancing their 401k. It was my first exposure to what consumers say vs. what they do. Joining Rothy’s was a similar question. Was the brand about a sustainable shoe — 3D knit from recycled plastic water bottles — or comfort or a beautiful shoe? Short answer is it has to be a beautiful shoe first that consumers want to wear and then the sustainability aspect of it is a ‘nice to have’ and a reason to tell your friends about it. 

This is a long beginning as to why Mozilla. When I was first approached about joining the Mozilla board, the recruiter asked me what I was looking for in new boards. My answer was short: something that matters and a board and management team where I could make a difference. Mozilla’s mission matters. And the time is now. In an era where Big Tech is less trusted and under intense scrutiny, Mozilla has a massive opportunity to have an impact on the future of an open, accessible internet. 

This team is fantastic. From the MoCo board to the MoFo board to the long-time, authentic leadership from Mitchell Baker and the new(ish) voice of Steve Teixeira on where our products can go, this is a great team. Changing consumer behavior is hard. But critical. In the land of misinformation and content proliferation, social media, and the growth of AI, tech is changing our lives quickly. How we continue to build Mozilla’s voice in this changing landscape is an awesome challenge and one I’m excited to lend a voice to.

The post Why I joined Mozilla’s Board of Directors appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

We’re committing $30M to build Mozilla.ai: A startup — and a community — building a trustworthy, independent, and open-source AI ecosystem

____________________

We’re only three months into 2023, and it’s already clear what one of the biggest stories of the year is: AI. AI has seized the public’s attention like Netscape did in 1994, and the iPhone did in 2007. 

New tools like Stable Diffusion and the just-released GPT-4 are reshaping not just how we think about the internet, but also communication and creativity and society at large. Meanwhile, relatively older AI tools like the recommendation engines that power YouTube, TikTok and other social apps are growing even more powerful — and continuing to influence billions of lives. 

This new wave of AI has generated excitement, but also significant apprehension. We aren’t just wondering What’s possible? and How can people benefit? We’re also wondering What could go wrong? and How can we address it? Two decades of social media, smartphones and their consequences have made us leery.    

Mozilla has been asking these questions about AI for a while now — sketching out a vision for trustworthy AI, mobilizing our community to document what’s broken and investing in startups that are trying to create more responsible AI. 

We’ve learned that this coming wave of AI (and also the last one) has tremendous potential to enrich people’s lives. But it will only do so if we design the technology very differently — if we put human agency and the interests of users at the core, and if we prioritize transparency and accountability. The AI inflection point that we’re in right now offers a real opportunity to build technology with different values, new incentives and a better ownership model. 

The good news: We’ve met literally thousands of founders, engineers, scientists, designers, artists and activists who are taking this approach to AI. Smart, dedicated people are building open-source AI technology, testing out new approaches to auditing and figuring out how to build ‘trust’ into AI in the real world. 

The less good news: We don’t see this happening amongst the big tech and cloud companies with the most power and influence. Meanwhile, these incumbents continue to consolidate their control over the market.

In short: Some people are starting to do things differently, but the most significant work (and investment) is happening the same old way. We want to change this. 

So, today we are announcing Mozilla.ai: A startup — and a community — that will build a trustworthy and independent open-source AI ecosystem. Mozilla will make an initial $30M investment in the company.

The vision for Mozilla.ai is to make it easy to develop trustworthy AI products. We will build things and hire / collaborate with people that share our vision: AI that has agency, accountability, transparency and openness at its core. Mozilla.ai will be a space outside big tech and academia for like-minded founders, developers, scientists, product managers and builders to gather. We believe that this group of people, working collectively, can turn the tide to create an independent, decentralized and trustworthy AI ecosystem — a real counterweight to the status quo. 

Mozilla.ai’s initial focus? Tools that make generative AI safer and more transparent. And, people-centric recommendation systems that don’t misinform or undermine our well-being. We’ll share more on these — and what we’re building — in the coming months. 

This new company will be led by Managing Director Moez Draief. Moez has spent over a decade working on the practical applications of cutting-edge AI as an academic at Imperial College and LSE, and as a chief scientist in industry. Harvard’s Karim Lakhani, Credo’s Navrina Singh and myself will serve as the initial Board of Mozilla.ai. 

Later this year, we will announce additional initiatives, partners and events where people can get involved. If you are interested in collaborating, reach out at hello@mozilla.ai.

The post <strong>Introducing Mozilla.ai: Investing in Trustworthy AI </strong> appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

The last few months it has become clear that AI is no longer our future, but our present. Some of the most exciting ideas for the future of both the internet and the world involve AI solutions. This didn’t happen overnight, decades of work have gone into this moment. Mozilla has been working to make sure that the future of AI benefits humanity in the right ways by investing in the creation of trustworthy AI.

We want entrepreneurs and builders to join us in creating a future where AI is developed through this responsible lens. That’s why we are relaunching our Mozilla Builders program with the Responsible AI Challenge.

At Mozilla, we believe in AI: in its power, its commercial opportunity, and its potential to solve the world’s most challenging problems. But now is the moment to make sure that it is developed responsibly to serve society. 

If you want to build (or are already building) AI solutions that are ambitious but also ethical and holistic, the Mozilla Builder’s Responsible AI Challenge is for you. We will be inviting the top nominees to join a gathering of the brightest technologists, business leaders and ethicists working on trustworthy AI to help get your ideas off the ground. Participants will also have access to mentorship from some of the best minds in the industry, the ability to meet key contributors in this community, and an opportunity to win some funding for their project.

Mozilla will be investing $50,000 into the top applications and projects, with a grand prize of $25,000 for the first place winner. 

For more information, please visit here. Applications open up March 30, 2023.

The post <strong>Mozilla Launches Responsible AI Challenge </strong> appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

If you’re already one of the many people who use Firefox Relay to save your real email address from trackers and spammers, then we’ve got a timesaver for you. We are testing a new way for Firefox Relay users to access their email masks directly from Firefox on numerous sites.

Since its launch, Firefox Relay has blocked more than 2.1 million unwanted emails from people’s inboxes while keeping real email addresses safe from trackers across the web. We’re always listening to our users, and one of the most-requested features is having Firefox Relay directly within the Firefox browser. And if you don’t already use Firefox Relay, you can always sign up.

How to use your Firefox Relay email masks in Firefox 

In the physical world, we limit sharing our home address. Yet, in the online world, we’re constantly asked for our email address and we freely share it with almost every site we come across. It’s our Firefox Relay users who think twice before sharing their email address, using email masks instead of their real email address to keep their personal information safe.

So, when a Firefox Relay user visits some sites in the Firefox browser and is prompted to sign up and share their email address, they can use one of their Firefox Relay email masks or create a new one. See how it works:

We hope to expand to more sites and to all Firefox users later this year. 

Additionally, Firefox Relay users can also opt out of this new feature so that they’re no longer prompted to use an email mask when they come across the pop-up. If they want to manage their Firefox Relay email address masks, they can visit their dashboard on the Firefox Relay site.

Thousands of users have signed up for our smart, easy solution that hides their real email address to help protect their identity. Wherever you go online, Mozilla’s trusted products and services can help you feel safer knowing that you have privacy protection for your everyday online life. 

If you don’t have Firefox Relay, you can subscribe today from the Firefox Relay site.

Start protecting your email inbox today

Sign up for Firefox Relay

The post Email protection just got easier in Firefox appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

In case you haven’t heard, there’s an ongoing conversation happening about your personal data. 

Earlier this year, United States President Biden said in his State of the Union address that there needs to be stricter limits on the personal data that companies collect. Additionally, a recent survey found that most people said they’d like to control the data that companies collect about them, yet they don’t understand how online tracking works nor do they know what they can do about it. Companies are now trying and testing ways to anonymize the third-party cookies that track people on the web or get consent for each site or app that wants to track people’s behavior across the web. 

These days, who can you trust with your personal data? Mozilla. We have over a decade of anti-tracking work with products and features that protect people, their privacy and their online activity. Today, we’re announcing the official rollout of one of our strongest privacy features, Total Cookie Protection, to automatically block cross-site tracking on Firefox Android. 

Yes, companies gather your data when you go from site to site

Before we talk about Total Cookie Protection, let’s talk about cross-site tracking. These days our in-person transactions like shopping for groceries or buying gifts for friends have now become commonplace online. What people may not be aware of are the other transactions happening behind the scenes. 

For example, as you’re shopping for a gift and going from site to site looking for the right one, your activity is being tracked without your consent. Companies use a specific cookie known as the third-party cookie, which gathers information about you and your browsing behavior and tracks you when you go from site to site. Companies use the information to build profiles and help them make ads targeted at convincing you to purchase, like resurfacing an item you were shopping for. So Mozilla created the feature Total Cookie Protection to block companies from gathering information about you and your browsing behavior.

Your freedom from cross-site tracking now available on Firefox Android 

Meet Firefox’s Total Cookie Protection, which stops cookies from tracking you around the web and is now available on Firefox Android. Last year, Firefox rolled out our strongest privacy feature, Total Cookie Protection across Windows, Mac and Linux. Total Cookie Protection works by maintaining a separate “cookie jar” for each website you visit. Any time a website, or third-party content embedded in a website, deposits a cookie in your browser, Firefox Android confines that cookie to the cookie jar assigned to that website. This way, no other websites can reach into the cookie jars that don’t belong to them and find out what the other websites’ cookies know about you. Now, you can say goodbye to those annoying ads following you and reduce the amount of information that companies gather about you whenever you go online.

Firefox’s Total Cookie Protection covers you across all your devices

Whether you’re browsing at your desk or your phone, now you’ll get Firefox’s strongest privacy protection to date. Firefox will confine cookies to the site where they were created, thus preventing tracking companies from using these cookies to track your browsing from site to site. To seamlessly work across your devices, sign up for a free Firefox Account. You’ll be able to easily pick up your last open tab between your devices. Bonus: You can also access your saved passwords and tabs all under Total Cookie Protection. 

Get your most secure and private Firefox Android today!

Download Firefox Android

For more on Firefox:

• Don’t “accept all cookies” until you’ve seen this video
• Mozilla Explains: Cookies and supercookies
• How Firefox’s Total Cookie Protection and container extensions work together
• Firefox rolls out Total Cookie Protection by default to all users worldwide

The post Firefox Android’s new privacy feature, Total Cookie Protection, stops companies from keeping tabs on your moves appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Here at Mozilla, we are the first to admit the internet isn’t perfect, but we are also quick to point out that the internet is pretty darn magical. The internet opens up doors and opportunities, allows for people to connect with others, and lets everyone find where they belong — their corners of the internet. We all have an internet story worth sharing. In My Corner Of The Internet, we talk with people about the online spaces they can’t get enough of, what we should save in Pocket to read later, and what sites and forums shaped them.

This month we chat with Annie Rauwerda, the woman behind Depths of Wikipedia, which highlights weird and unexpected entries from the online encyclopedia. The project started as an Instagram account and has since expanded to Twitter, TikTok and a live comedy show. We talk to her about her obsession with memes, editing Wikipedia pages and finding the goofy corners of the internet. 

What is your favorite corner of the internet? 

I really like goofy corners of the web, like this archive of computer mice and this archive of rotating food. I love Discord so much. I love Twitter most of the time. And I love Wikipedia, particularly the timeline of the far future. 

What is an internet deep dive that you can’t wait to jump back into?

I’m obsessed with finding the origin of meme images. I recently tracked down the hot pink bitch named Breakfast and the Wikipedia high five couple. I spend a lot of time on the lost media subreddit. 

What is the one tab you always regret closing?

I edit Wikipedia a lot, and occasionally I come across a guideline or gadget that’s super helpful but hard to find (Wikipedia’s guidelines are a total labyrinth). Thank god for command + shift + t!!

What can you not stop talking about on the internet right now? 

I’ve been really into crossword construction! And making silly Venn diagrams!

What was the first online community you engaged with?

When I was in elementary school, my dad quit his job to be a stay-at-home parent and started pouring tons of energy into being the coolest dad ever. I grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where there’s a ton of show in the winter, and he would make massive snow castles. It was right as YouTube was getting big, and he posted a video of the fort. We got comments from people around the world. It was so cool!

What articles and videos are in your Pocket waiting to be read/watched right now?

I love all the features in Quanta. And I’ve been meaning to finish The Curse of Xanadu in Wired from 1995. 

If you could create your own corner of the internet, what would it look like?

You know how people create extensive, time-intensive projects dedicated to random things like bread tags or candy cross-sections or notes left in library books or etymology? Probably something like that. I love archives, especially silly archives!

Wikipedia turned 22 this year. What about it keeps contributors like you so dedicated to editing and maintaining its pages?

There are a lot of canned answers I could give about a shared commitment to free knowledge, and I’m sure that’s part of it, but the real reason I edit is that it’s pretty fun. You get addicted.

Annie Rauwerda has been running Depths of Wikipedia since March 2020, when she started it as a sophomore at the University of Michigan. She’s also a writer whose work has appeared in Input Magazine and Slate.

Save and discover the best articles, stories and videos on the web

Get Pocket

The post The Depths of Wikipedia creator on finding the goofy corners of the web appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

As Mozilla reaches its 25th anniversary this year, we’re working hard to set up our “next chapter” — thinking bigger and being bolder about how we can shape the coming era of the internet. We’re working to expand our product offerings, creating multiple options for consumers, audiences and business models. We’re growing our philanthropic and advocacy work that promotes trustworthy AI. And, we’re creating two new Mozilla companies, Mozilla.ai: to develop a trustworthy open source AI stack and Mozilla Ventures:  to invest in responsible tech companies. Across all of this, we’ve been actively recruiting new leaders who can help us build Mozilla for this next era. 

With all of this in mind, we are seeking three new members for the Mozilla Foundation Board of Directors. These Board members will help grow the scope and impact of the Mozilla Project overall, working closely with the Boards of the Mozilla Corporation, Mozilla.ai and Mozilla Ventures. At least one of the new Board members will play a central role in guiding the work of the Foundation’s charitable programs, which focuses on movement building and trustworthy AI. 

What is the role of a Mozilla board member?

I’ve written in the past about the role of the Board of Directors at Mozilla.

At Mozilla, our board members join more than just a board, they join the greater team and the whole movement for internet health. We invite our board members to build relationships with management, employees and volunteers. The conventional thinking is that these types of relationships make it hard for executives to do their jobs. We feel differently. We work openly and transparently, and want Board members to be part of the team and part of the community.

It’s worth noting that Mozilla is an unusual organization. As I wrote in our most recent annual report: 

Mozilla is a rare organization. We’re activists for a better internet, one where individuals and societies benefit more from the effects of technology, and where competition brings consumers choices beyond a small handful of integrated technology giants.

We’re activists who champion change by building alternatives. We build products and compete in the consumer marketplace. We combine this with advocacy, policy, and philanthropic programs connecting to others to create change. This combination is rare.

It’s important that our Board members understand all this, including why we build consumer products and why we have a portfolio of organizations playing different roles. It is equally important that the Boards of our commercial subsidiaries understand why we run charitable programs within Mozilla Foundation that complement the work we do to develop products and invest in responsible tech companies.

What are we looking for?

At the highest level, we are seeking people who can help our global organization grow and succeed — and who ensure that we advance the work of the Mozilla Manifesto over the long run. Here is the full job description: https://mzl.la/MofoBoardJD2023 

There are a variety of qualities that we seek in all Board members, including a cultural sense of Mozilla and a commitment to an open, transparent, community driven approach. We are also focused on ensuring the diversity of the Board, and fostering global perspectives.  

As we recruit, we typically look to add specific skills or domain expertise to the Board. Current examples of areas where we’d like to add expertise include: 

1. Mission-based business — experience creating, running or overseeing organizations that combine public benefit and commercial activities towards a mission. 
2. Global, public interest advocacy – experience leading successful, large-scale public interest advocacy organizations with online mobilization and shaping public discourse on key issues at the core.
3. Effective ‘portfolio’ organizations – experience running or overseeing organizations that include a number of divisions, companies or non-profits under one umbrella, with an eye to helping the portfolio add up to more than the sum of its parts.

Finding the right people who match these criteria and who have the skills we need takes time. Board candidates will meet the existing board members, members of the management team, individual contributors and volunteers. We see this as a good way to get to know how someone thinks and works within the framework of the Mozilla mission. It also helps us feel comfortable including someone at this senior level of stewardship.

We want your suggestions

We are hoping to add three new members to the Mozilla Foundation Board of Directors over the next 18 months. If you have candidates that you believe would be good board members, send them to msurman@mozillafoundation.org. We will use real discretion with the names you send us.

The post Expanding Mozilla’s boards in 2023 appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Charnaie Gordon is the content creator behind Here Wee Read, a blog that advocates for diversity and inclusivity in children’s literature. She’s also the author of several children’s books, including “Lift Every Voice and Change: A Celebration of Black Leaders and the Words that Inspire Generations,” You can follow her on Instagram. 

I’ve always attributed my love of reading to Oprah Winfrey. I used to rush home from school so I could watch her daytime talk show at 4 o’clock. She didn’t have a book club back then, but I remember her talking about her love of reading and how books were her escape as a child.

Seeing someone who looked like me with such a huge platform was powerful. It’s part of  why I wanted to share my own love of reading through my blog, Here Wee Read. The internet helped me find not only a platform, but a community of readers who are as passionate about diverse literature as I am. Now that I have two young children, I’m showing them that while the internet isn’t perfect, it’s a great place to find inspiration, make connections and grow their worlds. 

I want parents to know that the internet is not a thing to be feared, but a place where everyone – even our kids – can find community. 

The internet is a great connector

I started Here Wee Read in 2015 with no intentions of being a content creator or an influencer. I did it because I wanted to share my love of books that featured diverse characters and stories with others. 

I wanted to help make sure that others – no matter their color, background or ability – feel included in literature that we see on bookshelves.

Turns out that I wasn’t alone. Over the past seven years, my blog, as well as social media, have connected me with so many amazing and talented people around the world that I wouldn’t have met otherwise. This led me to become a children’s book author and editor myself: In 2019, a publisher approached me to co-author a picture book, “A Friend Like You.” Since then, I now have five published picture books with more on the way in 2023 and 2024.

How we use the internet as a family

I’ve been reading out loud to my children daily since they were born, and I’m proud that I’ve imparted the same love of reading in them. In the summer of 2018, when my kids were four and five, our family thought about how we can help put more inclusive books on shelves across America. We came up with the idea of donating books to each state. Soon, what started as a family project became a nonprofit organization called 50 States 50 Books, which has been providing free diverse books around the country. 

My kids ship books for our nonprofit. They also create social media content and reply to messages on our accounts (all with my guidance of course). Not only have my kids helped create a literary community online, they’re practicing their communication and business skills too. 

How to engage your kids

These days, the internet is a constant part of our lives, including our children. My experience has taught me that it’s full of opportunities to build community.

If your kids are turning to the internet more than you’d like, don’t focus on what can go wrong. Think about the opportunities instead. It’s likely that children are exploring their interests online, and finding others who share them. Talk to your kids about what they like to do on the internet and ask questions.

Are they making new friends outside of their school? Are they learning something new? Can they join an online group or club to develop their passions or skills? Do they want to support a cause they care about? 

Show you are genuinely interested in understanding how they want to spend their time. Discuss specific content they may see or create.

Once you understand the value of the internet to your child, define boundaries together – whether that’s screen time limits or what they could or couldn’t share online. Use this time as an opportunity to express that when done responsibly, using the internet isn’t just fun but can be used to make the world a better place. 

Acknowledge the challenges of being online

Like anything else, being online has pitfalls. It helps to discuss these with your kids, too. 

Older children who constantly post online can feel the pressure to keep it up. This can lead to burnout, loss of creativity and mental health challenges. Stress the importance of stepping away and taking breaks when they need to. 

Help them understand that what they post can have consequences for themselves and others. Being online can make people targets for hurtful messages or cyberbullying. So while the internet is a good place to express ourselves, acknowledge that the internet isn’t perfect. In my experience, one of the best things parents and caregivers can do is address any problematic encounters, behavior or content as soon as possible. Remind them to always be kind. 

There are risks associated with using the internet, but knowing how to navigate it safely can help your young ones build resilience. 

How to talk to kids about finding community online

Encourage creativity. There are many free apps that let kids express their creativity – whether through music, photos, videos, coloring, coding, making funny voices or creating their own movies. Their creations can lead them to like-minded peers both online and offline. 

Talk about their dreams. Regardless of our ambitions for our children or their own goals, technology will likely be a big part of their adult lives. Set boundaries and teach them about important things like online privacy, but also give them the freedom to explore and make connections based on their passions. Let them troubleshoot, emphasizing that you’re there for them when they need your help. Kids can feel empowered to learn from the treasure trove of resources (including brilliant minds from around the world) that is the internet, and these can help them become the adults they want to be.

Discuss ways to embody your values as a family online. As a parent, I like to set an example for my children. I show them that whatever I do online reflects my values, so I use my platform to spread awareness for causes I care about. I include my kids in my efforts and together, we connect with other families that have similar beliefs and values.

Stepping foot into the online world and finding community there can be exciting for children. Instead of instilling fear, stay engaged as a parent or caregiver. The internet can be better, but that requires efforts from people who want to create a better world. Let your children be a part of that.

The internet is a great place for families. It gives us new opportunities to discover the world, connect with others and just generally make our lives easier and more colorful. But it also comes with new challenges and complications for the people raising the next generations. Mozilla wants to help families make the best online decisions, whatever that looks like, with our latest series, The Tech Talk.

Talk to your kids about online safety

Get tips

The post How to talk to kids about finding community online appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Here at Mozilla, we are the first to admit the internet isn’t perfect, but we are also quick to point out that the internet is pretty darn magical. The internet opens up doors and opportunities, allows for people to connect with others, and lets everyone find where they belong — their corners of the internet. We all have an internet story worth sharing. In My Corner Of The Internet, we talk with people about the online spaces they can’t get enough of, what we should save in Pocket to read later, and what sites and forums shaped them.

This month we chat with Ashley Gold, who covers big tech and regulators as a tech and policy reporter at Axios. She’ll be moderating a panel at SXSW in Austin, Texas called “Open Innovation: Breaking The Default Together,” featuring members from Mozilla’s innovation team.

What is your favorite corner of the internet? 

My favorite corner of the internet is where I can read really good, insightful, funny TV, movie and music reviews. I love cultural criticism. I love TV recaps. I love album reviews. I love movie reviews. I love watching or listening to something and immediately being able to go on the internet and see what other people thought about it, and whether they came to the same conclusions as me and what they rated it and their analysis. I just love communities talking about a show or an album or movie together.

What is an internet deep dive that you can’t wait to jump back into?

 I love any deep dive that’s about a very niche internet personality that only people who are very online would know. I love when there’s a deep dive into their life behind their Twitter account or something like that. I get way too interested in that kind of stuff. 

I also really love a good long read, not necessarily about something that happened or a news event but about a person themselves. Profiles on people that I’m interested in, I’ll always click on

What is the one tab you always regret closing?

At Axios, where I work, we have a document that lays out all of our axioms, which is what we start our little paragraphs with. And every time I exit out, I realize I did it again.

What can you not stop talking about on the internet right now? 

Any content that has to do with Rihanna and her pregnancy and her first baby. She just gave an interview to British Vogue. I had a baby a year-and-a-half ago and hearing Rihanna say the same exact thing that I did right after I had a baby just cracks me up because she’s a billionaire superstar and she’s having the same experience I did. So I’m loving anything that has to do with Rihanna, this current era.

What was the first online community you engaged with?

I had this Xanga [page] when I was in, maybe, sixth grade. I definitely wrote some things in my Xanga that were way too personal to put on the internet. A middle school boyfriend I had at the time read it and figured out I didn’t really like him. So I had some explaining to do.

What articles and videos are in your Pocket waiting to be read/watched right now?

I’m in the middle of finishing a long profile on The New York Times’ executive editor, Joe Kahn. I just finished up The New York Time Magazine’s profile on SZA. And I look forward to reading an article from Tim Alberta on Michigan State University.

If you could create your own corner of the internet, what would it look like?

It would be a lot of pop culture, music, movies and TV content. Makeup tips, workout tips, tips for new parents and generally a lot of positivity. The internet has too much negativity but I do think it’s still a good place for people to come together and you  find like-minded people and get tips on everyday life things and live with intention. 

What do you hope people will have a better understanding of from listening to the SXSW panel you’re moderating?

I hope that people understand that, even though their lives seem to be dominated by the biggest companies in the world and their products and their offerings, there are other organizations out there working on interesting groundbreaking technology that aren’t the biggest companies in the world. It might just take some challenging of our assumptions about what makes a successful company and whether that’s dependent on profit for those kinds of companies to really break through and have their products used by everyone.

Join Ashley, along with Peter van Hardenberg of Ink & Switch and Imo Udom and Liv Erickson of Mozilla, at their panel “Open Innovation: Breaking The Default Together” at SXSW in Austin, Texas on March 14. You can read Ashley’s work on Axios and follow her on Twitter at @ashleyrgold.

Save and discover the best articles, stories and videos on the web

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The post An Axios tech reporter on her favorite corners of the internet appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Do you need parental controls? What are the options? Do they really work? Here’s everything you need to know about the wide array of parental control solutions, from OS settings to monitoring apps to network hardware.

Even if you’ve talked to your kids about screen-time limits and responsible online behavior, it’s still really tough to manage what they do when you’re not there (and even when you are). Parental controls can support you in your efforts to keep your kids’ internet experiences safe, fun, and productive. They work best when used openly and honestly in partnership with your kids.

Figuring out what kind of parental control is best is entirely based on your own family’s needs. Some families can get by with simple, free browser settings to filter inappropriate content. Some families need help clamping down on screen time. Some folks are cool with spot-checks on their kids’ devices. Wherever you are in your search, this guide can help you make sense of the wide array of options for managing your family’s devices. Find the answers to parents’ most frequently asked questions about parental controls.

• What are the best parental controls for blocking websites?
• What are the best parental controls for blocking websites and filtering content?
• What are the best parental controls for setting limits and monitoring kids?
• What are the best parental controls for kids’ phones?
• What are the best parental controls for tracking location?
• What are the best network parental controls?
• What are the best parental control options for iOS phones and tablets?
• What are the best parental control options for Android devices?
• Can I set parental controls in specific apps, such as Snapchat and TikTok?
• Do I need to worry about my kid disabling parental controls?
• Will my kid know that I’m using parental controls?

What are the best parental controls if I want to:

Block websites. If you just want to limit what your kids can search for, your best option is to enable Google SafeSearch in whichever browser or browsers you use. First, you need to make sure your browsers use Google as their default search engine, and then you need to turn on SafeSearch. This is a good precaution to take as soon as your kids start going online and you want to make sure they don’t accidentally stumble across something yucky.

Block websites and filter content. If you want to prevent access to specific websites and limit your kid’s exposure to inappropriate content such as mature games or porn, you can use the parental controls that are built into your device’s operating system. Every major operating system — Microsoft’s Windows, Apple’s Mac OS, and even Amazon’s Fire — offers settings to keep kids from accessing stuff you don’t want them to see. To get the benefits, you need to use the most updated version of the operating system, and each user has to log in under his or her profile. The settings apply globally to everything the computer accesses. Each works differently and has its own pros and cons. This is the best solution if your kids are younger and are primarily using a home device. Check out each one’s features: Microsoft, Apple, Amazon.

Block websites, filter content, impose time limits, see what my kids are doing. A full-featured, third-party parental control service such as Bark, Qustodio or NetNanny will give you a lot of control over all of your kid’s devices (the ones they use at home as well as their phones). These can be pricey (especially if you have several kids to monitor), but the cost includes constant device monitoring, offering you visibility into how kids are using their devices. These parental controls can only keep track of accounts that they know your kid is using, and for some apps, you’ll need your kid’s password in order to monitor activity. If your kid creates a brand-new profile on Instagram using a friend’s computer without telling you, for example, the parental controls won’t cover that account.

Monitor my kid’s phone. To keep tabs on your tween or teen’s phone, your best bet is to download an app to monitor text messages, social networks, emails, and other mobile functions — try Bark, Circle, TeenSafe, or WebWatcher. These are especially helpful if you’re concerned about potentially risky conversations or iffy topics your kid might be engaging in. Bark, for example, notifies you when it detects “alert” words, such as “drugs.” To monitor social media, you’ll need your kid’s account information, including passwords.

Track my kid’s location. You can use GPS trackers such as Find My Friends and FamiSafe to stay abreast of your kid’s whereabouts. Your kid’s phone needs to be on for these to work, though.

Manage all devices on the network, limit screen time, filter content, turn off Wi-Fi. There are both hardware and software solutions to control your home network and your home Wi-Fi. To name a few popular ones: OpenDNS is a download that works with your existing router (the device that brings the internet into your home) to filter internet content. Circle Home Plus is a device and subscription service that pairs with your existing router and lets you pause access to the internet, create time limits, and add content filters to all devices on your home network (including Wi-Fi devices), plus manage phones and tablets outside the home. Some internet service providers such as Comcast and Verizon offer parental control features that apply to all devices on the network, too. Network solutions can work for families with kids of different ages; however, mucking around in your network and Wi-Fi settings can be challenging, and the controls may not apply when kids are on a different network.

What are the best parental control options for iOS phones and tablets?

If you have an iPhone or iPad, Apple’s Screen Time settings let you manage nearly every aspect of your kid’s iOS device, including how much time kids spend on individual apps and games and what they download. You can even turn the phone off for specified periods, such as bedtime. There are two ways to enable Screen Time: You can either set it up on your kid’s device and password-protect the settings, or you can set up Family Sharing through your Apple account and manage the features from your phone.

What are the best parental control options for Android devices?

Android devices can vary a lot in what they offer, so check your device’s settings to see what options you have. If your kid is under 13, you can download Google’s Family Link to track and control online activity, including text messaging and social media, using your own phone. (You can use Family Link on teens’ devices, but you can’t lock the settings.) You can also use Android’s Digital Wellbeing settings, which are built into the latest version of the OS. These can help kids become more mindful of the time they’re spending online — and hopefully help them cut down. You’ll want to help your kid enable the settings that will be most useful on the road to self-regulation.

Can I set parental controls in specific apps, such as Snapchat and TikTok?

In addition to blocking specific people, most social media apps let you disable features that could pose some risks for kids. For example, you may be able to turn off chat, restrict conversation to friends only, and hide your child’s profile so that it won’t show up in search results. Some apps go a step further by letting users control their own use of the app. Instagram‘s Your Activity feature, for example, shows you how much time you’ve spent in the app and lets you set limits for yourself. YouTube has a similar feature that reminds users to take a break. TikTok even allows parents to set limits and remotely manage their kids’ TikTok account from their phone using its Family Pairing feature. To find out if your kids’ favorite apps offer any types of restrictions, go to the app’s settings section (usually represented by the gear icon). Unless an app offers passcode protection for its settings (and most don’t), your kid can easily reverse them.

Do I need to worry about my kid disabling parental controls?

Yes, kids can undo parental controls. In fact, the directions on how to get around them are easily available on the internet. Depending on your software, you may get a notification that the parental control was breached — or not. Kids can figure out all sorts of ingenious methods to keep doing what they want to be doing — talking to friends, staying up late playing Fortnite, and watching videos you don’t want them to see. If you notice something fishy such as a steep drop-off in your parental control notifications, Wi-Fi or data activity after you’ve turned off the network, or anything else that indicates the parental control isn’t working the way it’s supposed to, your kid may have figured out how to get around it. It could be for another reason, though, since parental controls can be affected by system updates, power outages, and other technical issues.

Will my kid know that I’m using parental controls?

It really depends on the type of controls you install and the devices you have. Some parental controls can be installed without your kids knowing, but Common Sense Media doesn’t recommend it (unless you have a really serious issue with your kid and you need to monitor discreetly). In fact, be cautious with companies that promise covert monitoring, as they tend to prey on parents’ fears. Parental control companies that encourage open dialogue will most likely be more helpful anyway, because at some point you’ll need to discuss what you find. And that’s a lot easier to do if your kid already knows you’re monitoring them. If you decide to use parental controls, talk to your kids about why you’re using them (to help keep them safe) and how your ultimate goal is for them to learn how to interact online responsibly and regulate their own usage independently.

Common Sense Media is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of all kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in the 21st century.

The internet is a great place for families. It gives us new opportunities to discover the world, connect with others and just generally make our lives easier and more colorful. But it also comes with new challenges and complications for the people raising the next generations. Mozilla wants to help families make the best online decisions, whatever that looks like, with our latest series, The Tech Talk.

Talk to your kids about online safety

Get tips

The post Common Sense Media’s ultimate guide to parental controls appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Protecting your online accounts with just a password is like locking your front door with a key: It might keep most people away, but an intruder who’s determined to break in can still force an entry. This is where two-factor authentication, or 2FA, comes in handy. 

2FA is one of the most accessible and effective online security tools around. Like installing a home security system, turning it on works as an extra layer of protection. On the web, it’s between hackers and your personal, work, banking or any other information stored in your online accounts. Read on to learn more.

What is 2FA?

With 2FA, logging onto an online account will require not just a password but a second form of verification. 

This usually means linking your phone number to your account, so that you’ll also have to enter a secure code delivered to you via text message. That way even if someone gets access to your password (when it’s exposed in a breach, for example), they still won’t be able to log in since they don’t have your phone. 

Prefer not to receive 2FA texts? Or, in the case of a Twitter account, you’re not a Twitter Blue subscriber? There’s another way.

Authentication apps

Instead of receiving a security code via SMS, you can install an authentication app. If you want to enable 2FA with your Firefox account for example, you can use Authy, Google Authenticator, Duo Mobile, FreeOTP, andOTP or KeepassXC. Here’s what you’d need to do: 

1. Download an authentication app. 
2. In Firefox, click on the menu button at the top right corner.
3. Click Firefox Accounts from the menu (it will show your email address if you’re signed in).
4. Click Manage Account. The Firefox Accounts Settings page will open.
5. Under Security, click the Add button next to Two-step authentication. A QR code will display.
6. Open the authentication app of your choice.
7. Use the app to take a photo of the QR code, or click Can’t Scan Code to display a code to enter into the app.
8. Enter the code generated by the app into the Firefox Accounts Two-step authentication section and click Continue.
9. Download or print your backup authentication codes and keep them in a safe place in case you lose access to your authentication application.
10. Copy one of the backup authentication codes to confirm that you have saved them and click Continue.
11. Paste the code and click Finish.

2FA may take a bit of extra effort. But just like keeping your most valuable things safe at home, securing your digital space is well worth it.   

The post Why settle for one layer of security when you can have 2FA? appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Fitness instructor Tunde Oyeneyin, a favorite among Peloton riders, makes it a habit to stay intentional of what she consumes online. 

“Everything that you pour in, finds its way out,” Tunde says. “Whether that’s what I’m watching, reading or listening to.”

Her philosophy is part of what she calls soul care, her act of doing what’s good for the soul. Tunde says that it can be taking a bubble bath or turning some music on. “Sometimes, it’s knowing that I don’t have the time but staying on the phone for an hour talking and catching up with a friend anyway,” Tunde says. “It can be listening to or reading stories.”

Tunde uses Pocket to save and savor stories worth her time as part of her soul care. Here’s how she makes Pocket work for her: 

Listen to articles on the go

“I’m big on listening to articles that make my soul feel better, make me feel more informed or help me create positivity. Pocket’s text-to-speech feature is perfect on the go while I’m commuting or traveling.

Listen to an article by tapping the headphones button when you’re reading it or looking at your Pocket list.”

Save restaurant recommendations

“I grew up in Little Nigeria in Houston, Texas, and I love Nigerian food. It’s very comforting. I recommend going online and finding Nigerian restaurants then saving them on Pocket so you can visit them later. Come with your own water or perhaps milk because you’ll need it. Nigerian food is very, very spicy, saucy, hearty and delicious.”

Get organized 

“When I’m hosting a podcast, there’s a lot of prep that goes into it, including researching the guests and their past interviews online. When I’m being interviewed, sometimes questions are sent to me ahead of time so I can do some reading or listening ahead of time.

I stay organized by saving things on Pocket then tagging them. For example, if I save an article about positivity, I tag it ‘positivity’ so I can find it later.”

Stay mindful of the stories I consume

“So much of life is serious. In my friend text groups, we usually share something lighthearted. A silly meme. Babies dancing. Or somebody doing something absolutely ridiculous that makes you feel so much better about your day and your life.”

I created a collection for Pocket that’s all about staying intentional in what we do. The content in my collection is for anyone who wants to slow down and make the most out of their time in between busy moments.”

Save and discover the best articles, stories and videos on the web

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The post How to use Pocket with Tunde Oyeneyin appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

The internet remembers. Just ask iJustine. 

Justine Ezarik launched her YouTube channel in 2006, making silly skits so she could tinker with video editing and visual effects. Her first viral moment came after recording herself flipping through a 300-page iPhone bill she received in the mail. (AT&T, dealing with the first generation of the iPhone, itemized each text message she sent.)

Justine went on to make music video parodies and amateur cooking videos. For six months, she “lifecasted” her entire days on a streaming website.

Nearly two decades later, not much has been forgotten: Her earliest clips are now finding new life as TikTok memes. Fans still comment on her very first video. 

“When you’re younger, your perspective is so different,” Justine said. “Now I’m looking back, I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I posted those things!’ But I leave most of them up. It feels like a time capsule of where my channel started and where it is now.”

Justine now focuses on tech reviews after years of “oversharing to the max.” It became clear that she needed to keep some things to herself.

Of course, not everyone’s a content creator. But many of us are spending a good chunk of our lives online and creating content. Here’s what we can all learn about privacy from Justine:

Bad things happen

In 2014, Justine received a late-night call from her security company telling her that there’s a SWAT team outside her door. “There were so many people, so many lights, so many cop cars,” she recalled.” There were snipers on the roof of my neighbor’s house.” 

It turned out to be a “swatting” incident, in which someone reports a fake crime to prompt a SWAT team response to a specific location. “I started taking my security way more seriously,” Justine said. “I stopped sharing as much.”

It’s an extreme example, but here’s the takeaway: Life happens. We can’t avoid every bad actor on the internet, but we can’t assume that hacks or identity theft only happen to other people. Try your best to level up your online privacy game now.

Consider other people’s privacy too

As Justine’s content amassed a following online, people started recognizing her parents in public. Internet commenters talked about her friends after they appeared in her videos.

“I slowly stopped putting them in my videos because I didn’t want them to be judged by random people,” she said. “I’m the one putting myself out there. I don’t want to subject anyone else to this unless they want to be.”

So, be considerate when posting images and sharing information when they involve others – no matter the size of your social media following. 

See a content creator out in the wild? Fight the urge to take their picture, unless you have their explicit permission. Justine said people who see her in public sometimes snap her photos then send them to her online. Don’t do that.

“You should just say hi. If you want to take a selfie, it’s cool,” she said. “It’s fun meeting viewers because a lot of [content creators] work in a room with very limited interactions with people who watch their videos.”

Privacy feels good

When Justine livestreamed her life for six months, she learned a lot about community building watching viewers bond in the chat section. Plus, she didn’t have to grind through hours of editing video. But the end of her lifecasting stint came with relief.

“It was really fun,” Justine said. “But you did kind of have to be ‘on’ and entertaining. It was so physically and mentally exhausting that I didn’t realize how damaging it was at the time. There was a slight trauma of paranoia, thinking that people were still watching me for years after I stopped doing it.”

Later, when she started training in jiujitsu, Justine decided not to share any of it on the internet. 

“Having a place to go where no one knew me was a really refreshing thing to do for several years before I ever posted about it online,” Justine said. “It helped train my mindset that you don’t have to post everything. When you’re out doing something, it can just be for you.”

Is it weird taking privacy advice from a self-described oversharer? Maybe. But Justine has pivoted and evolved her way through 17 years of creating online content, all while keeping it cool. A masterclass on how to keep sane on the internet? We’ll subscribe to that. 

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The post iJustine, self-described ‘oversharer,’ has some privacy advice for you appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

We’ve come to rely on our mobile devices for everything, from managing our online calendars to sharing an article we just read with our friends. So, how can we make it easier when we use our mobile devices? Today, we’re adding new extensions to Firefox Android to help. Whether it’s giving an email address to sign up for an account, sharing a URL with a friend, or listening to an article, here are the latest extensions for a better online experience. 

Protect your email address with Firefox Relay

Giving your email address in exchange for discounts may seem like a small price to pay. But chances are that third-party companies will soon start to bombard your inbox with unwanted marketing emails? Enter Firefox Relay. Now, available as an extension on Firefox Android, Firefox Relay hides your real email address to help protect your identity. Learn more about Firefox Relay here.

Get simple and clean URLs to share with ClearURL

Do you ever come across a newsletter or a product online and want to share it with a friend? Then, when you go and copy the URL, you notice it’s embarrassingly too long to send and has all these random letters and symbols. What’s up with that? Sites include tracking elements in the URLs for a number of reasons, but the bottom line is that it’s used to track you. ClearURLs simply removes the tracking elements from the links, so you have a simple and clean URL. Download the extension and share away!

Give your eyes a rest with ReadAloud

It’s the end of a long day and the last thing you want to do is to look at another screen. Yet, you still want to hear about the news of the day or read the article that your friend sent you. Meet the ReadAloud Firefox extension. ReadAloud uses text-to-speech technology to convert webpage text to audio. It works on a variety of websites, including news sites, blogs, fan fiction, publications, textbooks, school and class websites, online universities and course materials. ReadAloud also gives you the option to choose between a male or female voice, or set the reading speed. Now, go ahead, close those weary eyes and just…listen.

These are just a few of our recommended Firefox Android extensions to help improve your mobile browsing experience. Featured Firefox extensions go through a process where we sort through community requests and conduct a series of reviews and performance evaluations. We want to make the internet a better place for you. If you’d like to find more ways to enjoy what the internet has to offer, try refreshing your online habits and routines with our Mozilla tech challenge.

So if you haven’t already downloaded it, get the Firefox for Android today. 

The post These 3 new Firefox Android extensions will help simplify your life appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Kristen Ramirez and Greg Dorsainville of the NYU Grossman School of Medicine write about how instructors use Mozilla Hubs, a VR platform that’s accessible and private by design, to teach students about the human body.

Kristen Ramirez is a research Instructor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. She is a human evolutionary biologist by training and anatomist by trade, publishing on the evolution of human joints and advances in anatomy medical education. Over the last two years she has introduced the use of immersive XR and VR teaching tools to the anatomy curriculum. 

Greg Dorsainville explores how new media and immersive computing can unlock the potential of both educators and learners at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Institute for Innovations in Medical Education. His focus is on how XR can expand the opportunity for experiential active learning experiences.

The kid who sat wide-eyed every Saturday morning as Miss Frizzle loaded her class into the magic school bus has grown into today’s medical student. They have been primed to learn from engaging, demonstrative and immersive visualizations pioneered by PBS’s first-ever fully animated series.

Now, these budding doctors are entering into a medical field shaped by the recent revolution in minimally invasive procedures and advances in scanning techniques and technologies. A physician’s anatomical knowledge is increasingly being put to use beyond the physical exam and operating room, meaning students need to be prepared to view the body in novel ways. While they won’t be shrinking down to microscopic scales and sailing through the gut anytime soon, advances in medical technologies will connect doctor and patient in yet unseen ways.

Instantaneous renderings of 3D digital models of patients, pin-head cameras and externally controlled surgical tools were once the musings of science fiction. Not anymore. These medical advances are appearing in conjunction with new commercial technologies for entertainment and education alike. Studies have correlated video game playing with better performance on laparoscopic surgery skills. Now, adoption of various eXtended Reality (XR) teaching and training resources is occurring at medical schools and teaching hospitals across the country.

‘To the bus!‘

In XR, the magic happens through the technology used to access experiences combining real and virtual elements. These experiences extend the sensory perception of the user beyond their physical environment into a virtual space. This occurs along a spectrum of real-to-digital interaction ranging from single sense inputs like adding a cartoon filter on Facetime or Snapchat to complete immersion in a far off world with a virtual reality (VR) headset. 

Unsurprisingly, the human body is really complex. Miles of nerves, arteries and veins weave around muscles, bones and organs. Not only do future doctors need to know the names of each arterial branch and intestinal fold, but also where all these structures sit relative to each other, how they interact and most importantly, how conditions afflicting one affect the other. Traditional dissection techniques allowed students to slowly descend layer by layer deeper into the body. This mirrored conventional approaches during surgery. Now, biomedical advances revolutionized the approach to invasive procedures, and anatomy faculty have needed to adjust their preparation of their future physicians to match these new interactions and visualizations. As digital assets supplement the doctor’s whole view of their patient, XR teaching tools will supplement the role of the cadaver, connecting students with the body like never before. 

After reviewing commercially accessible hardware and software options we encountered the many gaps still left to fill in this emerging market. We’re not yet ready to completely abandon our physical models and anatomical donors for a plug-and-play XR module. Instead we identified key regions where an immersive view would be most impactful. Recognizing we needed to custom-build our experiences, we turned to Mozilla Hubs.

Mozilla Hubs allows you to create immersive virtual worlds on the web. With Hubs, you can customize many aspects of your 3D space and invite others to join you with a link on a mobile device, desktop computer or VR headset. Hubs is open source and extensible, backed by a community of creative web developers, artists, designers and event hosts who contribute to improving and building on Hubs.

It was amongst this community that we were able to acquire the skills and leverage the newest tools developed in the platform to create our own custom XR experiences. On one side, our faculty was able to leverage the intuitive controls afforded by VR programs to model these anatomical spaces before passing them over to our multimedia developer for optimization and use in the virtual world. Together we set the scenes mixing multimedia, subtle interface cues and open access resources within and outside of Hubs to create spaces steeped with knowledge. Design sessions iteratively layered educational content with multimedia accessories creating scenes that balanced the awe VR can invoke with the learning objectives. Once we, as architects and builders, were satisfied, we were ready to, as Ms. Frizzle would say, “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy” by bringing students into our creations.

Field trips

Our first journey into the virtual space with our students brought them into the chambers of the heart, with blood cells whooshing past to guide the way through the circulatory system. This was the fall of 2020; our students were learning remotely due to the pandemic. Not only were they trying to figure out how to connect their 2D computer screens to the 3D anatomy content, they were trying to connect with each other and their identities as incipient medical students. Hubs promised to be the answer to both dilemmas. We envisioned bringing them all together within a 3D educational environment allowing them to speak to each other and to faculty while interacting with a complex anatomical space on their computer screens. 

As the maiden voyage, we had very few expectations. But throughout the event, we learned as much about our students’ hopes, needs and desires as they did about the human heart, and we began to formulate best practices for orientation, design and interactions for our spaces. Later that year we developed an “escape room” through the GI tract. The Hubs virtual space was synced with an outside resource guide of questions, clues and instructions to assist students in getting from the stomach to the intestines, saving the gallbladder along the way. 

Once our students had returned to campus we were excited to more intimately connect the immersive learning with other anatomy lab content and more fully immerse the students into the heart. The fact that Hubs is web-based and accessible on numerous devices allowed us to translate this virtual experience to an in-person event. We added in more media like videos of heart valves beating and faculty-recorded narrations to completely transport students into the heart itself for private tours past labeled structures – the same structures students had just held in their own hands minutes before in the anatomy lab. 

The most recent space we developed is, in reality, smaller than a pea. It sits somewhere in the middle between the eye, mouth, cheek and nose. To make things more challenging, it has seven openings in and out, connecting it to most regions of the head. Generations of students have grumbled over the pterygopalatine fossa, lovingly nicknamed the terrible-palatine fossa. In the VR headset, students can figure out where this tiny space actually sits by grabbing and enlarging a transparent skull with a blinking “you are here” sign pointing to a relatively small divot between two bones. They then look around and see direction labels at their feet to self-orient. Go up to the eyes, right to the nose, turn around for the brain. As they progress they watch arteries and nerves course through the head’s very own Grand Central Station, appreciating their path and interactions along the way. 

Learning as educators

Even in these early stages, initial feedback from students is positive, and we plan to build new experiences based on student-reported difficulties with other anatomical regions. While the use of XR as educational tools is promising, there is always a cost-benefit analysis to be had for any new XR intervention. Is the new information, or the new means to present this information, worth the investment of time and money to get both faculty and students able to access this tool? With an ultimate goal of education, an XR experience must first hit those objectives before layering on cool aesthetics and advanced interactions. 

Beyond the value of the tool itself is the context in which it is deployed. Like any new technology still in its infancy, users need to be slowly introduced and acclimated to XR. New adopters should consider the environment outside of the headset including temperature, space and other distractions, just as important as the assets within the virtual world. Concerns over discomfort and disorientation for students highlights the need for experts in user experience and scene optimization as a part of the development team, proactively mitigating problems by leveraging proper design principles. 

In our practice, XR is a resource that complements the traditional lectures, texts, physical models and cadavers used in anatomy education. Our deployments are in conjunction with these other resources to show our students the human body from all angles and perspectives. By recreating physical spaces in a virtual environment, it furthers the real-to-digital connection among various teaching tools, or what we call eXtended Learning. These tools extend our students’ learning outside of the physical lab and outside the confines of our course, providing a depth of understanding and long-lasting memorable experiences that will make them the physicians of tomorrow.  

Now, if only we could get Lily Tomlin to narrate our next field trip inside the human body.

Read more about Mozilla Hubs here:

• You don’t have to be an astronaut to explore space, Mozilla Hubs can take you there
• From art portfolios to new hobbies, here are 3 ways to use Mozilla Hubs

The post The immersive school bus: Hubs-built journeys into the body for medical education appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

Mozilla, Open Web Docs and partner organizations met in London in January to create a joint roadmap for MDN, improve planning and collaboration, and cement a shared vision for the project’s future.

A project with the size and complexity of MDN – a collaborative undertaking to document web platform technologies – requires great effort to keep content up-to-date, accurate and accessible for the broadest audience. Coordinating the activities of staff, partners and a community of volunteers and contributors who work on different areas of the website requires considerable focus and proactive planning.

In the last month alone, 175 people contributed over 450 pull requests to the English language content repository. Dozens of additional repositories complement or are incorporated into the site, including browser compatibility data, code examples, demo applications and significant community-driven efforts to localize the site into seven languages.

It’s crucial that contributors can quickly and easily see what others are doing or planning so that we can avoid conflicting work. We also want to ensure that work by community contributors fits with the content on the site, so that their efforts lead to changes that ultimately will be accepted and published.

Coming together

To help with community coordination and to keep the MDN contribution process running efficiently, Mozilla and Open Web Docs have created a shared and open roadmap for ongoing and planned work. The roadmap will help everyone working on the project understand what’s coming up next across the site and the scope, requirements and impact of changes.

For the project roadmap kickoff, Mozilla, Open Web Docs and representatives from Google, W3C and Microsoft met in London in January to discuss how to improve planning and collaboration and cement a shared vision for MDN’s future.

We discussed the project’s current state, its challenges and how to improve the website for the benefit of readers. We also focused on ways to strengthen the project’s future and support a growing community that works on maintaining MDN as a trusted source of information for developers in the coming years.

Goals of the shared roadmap

Aside from the daily maintenance and chores relating to routine updates, the roadmap covers more complex tasks that require careful coordination and planning. The roadmap will help capture significant site changes, from content updates to navigation improvements.

The goal is to make it easier to highlight the project’s priorities and to help contributors see planning, assignees and what tasks are available to pick up. During the London work week, the group identified the following key areas for the 2023 roadmap:

• Content lifecycle: We identified the maintenance cost of content additions during planning, defined sunsetting strategies and discussed ways to separate technical or implementation details from prose that may become quickly outdated.
• Information architecture: This covers the ongoing work to categorize and organize content on the site based on the type of technology it relates to and how it works with other technologies.
• Code examples: This covers the plans to make the different types of code examples displayed on MDN easier to maintain and contribute to and ways to simplify the editor that renders them on the page for readers.
• Discoverability: We discussed how to make it simple for developers to find the information they need while browsing the site, improving the site’s search functionality and making it more straightforward and exciting to discover new and related content.
• Platform and compatibility: This involves developing a hierarchy that groups platform features across technologies so that developers get a clear picture of whether they can use the features, what they relate to, and the browser and device support for these features.

If you would like to read the details, the meeting minutes from all sessions are available in the Open Web Docs project repository on GitHub.

Working closely with our partners

MDN serves millions of developers daily who look for help implementing a web feature, learning about new technologies and finding compatibility information for their applications. Meeting with our partners in London has given us great confidence in the commitment to the success of MDN and a renewed focus on the project’s development.

“With the web platform evolving so fast, keeping track and knowing what to use can be hard. In this context, MDN is an essential resource. We’re very happy to be working with partners that care so much about writing great documentation. Thank you to Mozilla for making it possible for us all to meet and align on our collective next steps. The future of web docs looks bright!”

Patrick Brosset, Microsoft

“Good documentation is critical to the adoption of any technology by developers, and MDN is an invaluable place for developers to learn about Web technologies standardized in W3C. I was thrilled to bring W3C’s perspectives on the shared roadmap that MDN and Open Web Docs are converging on – this paves the way for Web developers to get even faster documentation about all the new features regularly landing on the Web Platform.”

Dominique Hazael-Massieux, W3C

“We are very grateful for this opportunity. It was the first time we met as a group in person given Open Web Docs was founded during the global covid pandemic. Some of us met for the first time in real life.”

Florian Scholz, Open Web Docs

“MDN’s reference documentation is an integral part of developers’ lives, and I’m very happy for the ongoing collaboration with MDN to make sure web platform features and APIs are fully documented to enable developers to be successful on the web.”

Robert Nyman, Google

Having Open Web Docs, W3C, Google and Microsoft join us in person was an excellent opportunity to discuss ongoing efforts to support web platform documentation for the benefit of web developers  and designers worldwide. This community of developers, standards makers and technology companies continue to do invaluable work for projects that rely on documentation as critical digital infrastructure.

Working together enables us to better focus on the site’s content and usefulness. With a growing global audience of millions of developers, we see MDN as a vital resource for the web platform. It’s a place where anyone can learn about open web technologies and how to use them to build great things.

The post A shared and open roadmap for MDN appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.

What’s in a name? A lot. It’s the first piece of information that identifies a person — from their first name given at birth to their last name which connects them to their family lineage. Even a fictional name like Clark Kent says a lot. Not surprisingly a lot of people use the name of their favorite superhero as passwords, which made us wonder: Do people still use their names or the names of their nearest and dearest as passwords? The unfortunate answer: Yes, they do. This year, in recognition of Safer Internet Day, we explore how common this is and why it is not a good idea.

Before we share the most used names as passwords, let’s talk about why your password matters. When setting up a password, it’s easy to default to something memorable like your birth date or name. You might use that same password for other online accounts, like your banking, credit card or other services that might have sensitive and personal information about you. The risk you face when using personal information as a password multiple times is that it can fall in the wrong hands through a data breach.  

Last year, there were more than 1,774 data breaches reported by the Identify Theft Resource Center. Data breaches happen for a variety of reasons. It could be hackers who want access to people’s information, financial gain or simply for fun. How do you safeguard your information when data breaches happen? Meet Firefox Monitor, a product that lets you know if your email address and passwords have been in a data breach. It leverages the Have I Been Pwned? database, which shares lists of known passwords used in data breaches. It also has a tool that lets you look up passwords that have been compromised in data breaches. 

Already, we’re seeing parenting community sites predict and share the top baby names of 2023. So we wanted to see how those names fare when they’re used as passwords. To give you a hint, we’ll say it again: Names, including your children’s, make horrible passwords.

Popular names used as passwords appear in data breaches…a lot

BabyCenter.com, a community site for parents, released its list of top names for 2023. For females, three of the most popular names commonly found in passwords include “isabella” (141,731 times used as a password), “abigail” (94,834 times used as a password) and “selena” (61,112 times used as a password). The male names included “joshua” (388,793 times used as a password), “oliver” (259,274 times used as a password) and “august” (135,258 times used as a password).

So, have we convinced you that using your child’s name as a password is a terrible idea? It’s not just your child’s name but it could be your name, your mother or father’s name, too. We took a look at the top first names from the last 100 years (listed here on the Social Security Number site) to see how many times they’ve been used as a password in a data breach. The most popular female names include “jessica” (492,196 times used as a password), “jennifer” (380,112 times used as a password) and “patricia” (178,581 times used as a password). The top male names found in data breaches include “michael” (651,846 times used as a password), “robert” (362,548 times used as a password) and “william” (330,750 times used as a password).

Even hipster and “unique” names shouldn’t be used as passwords

Nameberry.com recently released a list of popular hipster baby names, spanning from vintage to nature-inspired. The hipster vintage names include old favorites that could be names of your child or your great grandmother (what is old is new again!). We looked at the list of female names to see how many times a name has been used as a password in a data breach and found that “florence” (87,298 times used as a password), “minerva” (25,631 times used as a password) and “betty” (21,811 times used as a password) were the top female names used in breached passwords. For males, it was “casper” (183,879 times used as a password), “chester” (182,768 times used as a password) and “stanley” (80,476 times used as a password). 

Hipster nature names didn’t fare well either. Under this category, the female names most overused as passwords include “pepper” (295,778 times used as a password), “soleil” (145,721 times used as a password), “cricket” (110,732 times used as a password) and “andromeda” (52,784 times used as a password). The male names most overused as passwords include “mercury” (83,966 times used as a password), “canyon” (42,125 times used as a password) and “wolf” (21,993 times used as a password). Even if you think you have a unique name, it doesn’t mean that it is OK to use as a password.

We’re not telling you to avoid these names altogether. Just don’t use them as passwords! Your children’s names are their personal information, so take care in how you share them online. Here’s what you can do to keep your family’s personal information safe: 

• Use a password generator to create a password –  When you visit a site and are asked to create an account and password, Mozilla’s Firefox browser has a password generator that will recommend a secure and strong password that includes a random combination of numbers, letters and symbols.
• Keep your passwords safe with a password manager – Stop writing your passwords on a piece of paper or a notebook, and use a password manager. There are services that will store your passwords for you online so that the next time you visit a site your password will instantly pop up in the field for you. 
• Protect your email address  – Firefox Relay is a product that hides your true email address to help protect your identity. It has blocked more than 1.3 million unwanted emails from people’s inboxes while keeping true email addresses from trackers across the web. Sign up here.
• Know when your password is breached with Firefox Monitor – Learn about hacks and breaches by signing up with Firefox Monitor. You’ll get alerts delivered to your email whenever there’s been a data breach or if your accounts have been hacked.

As we think about how to make the internet a better place, it’s taking those first baby steps to make changes that will help you safely navigate the web. If you’d like to do more to create better online habits and routines, try our Mozilla tech challenge. We’ll give you simple tasks that you can complete each week for four weeks so you can better enjoy what the internet has to offer. 

How did we get these numbers? We looked these up in haveipbeenpwned.com. We couldn’t access any data files, browse lists of passwords or link passwords to logins — that info is inaccessible and kept secure — but we could look up random passwords manually. Current numbers on the site may be higher than at time of publication as new datasets are added to HIBP. Alas, data breaches keep happening. There’s no time like the present to make sure you have strong passwords.

The post Your child’s name makes a horrible password appeared first on The Mozilla Blog.