As some of you already know, a big reason for me to switch to Linux was privacy and or lack thereof at Windows OS. Now after I started creating a social network site and chose total privacy at its core function, next to chronology, I apparently got an eye for it:
I had switched to Waterfox the even more privacy focused fork of Firefox, now a new version came out with following release note:
https://www.waterfox.com/releases/6.6.13/
Any of you guys read such things? It catched my eye that they took out startpage search completely, a privacy focused search engine, because of monetary gains gaps.
So they switched to 1.org as standard search engine, well ok to support such a good project, I’ll try it, I thought. Here’s the catch, I actually read the Privacy Policy and Terms, ever since I created such myself for my own site at least.
Well, a standard search engine which has a longer privacy policy than terms seemed already weird to me, length is mostly due to defending not adhering to things…
Their new charity partner turns out not to be a charity, but an adtech company a leech like google. And not a partner, but they are both owned by the same company.
In my eyes that’s all fraudulent, just look it up for yourself.
1 .org/terms
1 .org/privacy
In other words:
System1 LLC and its affiliates and subsidiaries (including Infospace Holdings LLC, Qool Media Holdings LLC, Dotzup Holdings LLC, Concourse Media Holdings LLC, MapQuest Holdings LLC, Privacy One Group Limited and System1 Waterfox Holdings LLC)…
System1 owns Waterfox. Not partners with — owns. “System1 Waterfox Holdings LLC” is right there in black and white.
Now go back and reread the release notes with that context:
- “As a small project these discussions move slowly” — they’re not a small project. They’re a subsidiary of a publicly traded adtech corporation.
- “We wanted to be transparent about the change” — while never mentioning that the “charitable” search engine they’re directing you to is run by their own parent company.
- “Leaving [search ads] enabled is exactly how the built-in blocker supports us” — “us” is System1’s revenue pipeline.
- “Please consider disabling your ad blocker on our default search provider” — they’re asking you to whitelist their owner’s tracking infrastructure.
The whole release note is crafted to read like a scrappy indie browser struggling to survive, when the reality is that an adtech company installed its own search engine as the default on a browser it owns, then framed it as a charitable partnership. The “transparency” they boast about is performative — they’re transparent about the surface-level changes while obscuring the corporate relationship that drives them.
And yes, the irony of the Terms being short while the privacy policy is a novella is very on-brand. The ToS basically says “we own everything, you owe us everything, we’re liable for nothing.” The privacy policy needs to be long because they have to legally disclose all the ways they harvest and sell your data.
So the mainline: Waterfox’s privacy focus was arguably already compromised when System1 acquired it. Everything since — the search defaults, the ad blocker that whitelists their own ads, the “charitable” framing — is just the logical progression of an adtech company leveraging a privacy-branded browser as a data funnel.
Keep your eyes open
) I would certainly consider WaterFox otherwise, but only if I changed the default search engine to something more privacy respecting.
I’d think that having instructions on how to change from other major browsers would be a no-brainer thing to do given that if you are on their site and aren’t using their browser you are probably using a different one… (Marketing 101 - make it as easy as possible to switch to your product…)