Privacy/Roadmap/2012

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	Privacy and User Control 2012 Roadmap
	Owner: Sid Stamm	Updated: 2012-04-6
	The vision behind Mozilla's 2011 privacy roadmap is focused on users, calling for increased anonymity on the web, starting with sensible privacy defaults, giving users the ability to make informed choices about disclosing their information, facilitating web transparency so users understand how their data is being collected and used, and allowing for flexibility while maintaining sensible baselines for those who are not interested in privacy.

	THIS PAGE IS A WORKING DRAFT
	The page may be difficult to navigate, and some information on its subject might be incomplete and/or evolving rapidly. If you have any questions or ideas, please add them as a new topic on the discussion page.

Operating Principles:

Mozilla uses a set of privacy operating principles as guidelines as we do work to grow the Web. Those principles that specifically relate to privacy in Firefox are:

Transparency / No Surprises

Only use and share information about our users for their benefit and as disclosed in our notices.

Real Choice

Give our users actionable and informed choices by informing and educating at the point of collection and providing a choice to opt-out whenever possible.

Sensible Defaults

Establish default settings in our products and services that balance safety and user experience as appropriate for the context of the transaction.

Limited Data

Collect and retain the least amount of information necessary for the feature or task. Try to share anonymous aggregate data whenever possible, and then only when it benefits the web, users, or developers

Outcomes:

Here major outcomes that are realized by completion of multiple features. Some features may potentially advance multiple outcomes, but are only identified here under the most relevant one.

HTTPS can be used as default

Right now, when users navigate to a web site without specifying the protocol or scheme, Firefox assumes "http" as the scheme. For optimal protection from eavesdropping and for encryption of cookies and other HTTP request data in transit, we should be able to attempt HTTPS and fall back to HTTP only when absolutely necessary.

This outcome can be realized when Firefox can be changed to default to the HTTPS scheme instead of HTTP.

Contextual Identity

People don't have a single identity in the real world or online. Instead they behave differently depending on the context. This is one of the reasons people use Private Browsing mode in Firefox, but it's not a perfect feature for that use case. It should be easy for users to easily switch contexts into a guest mode, borrow a browser, focus on semi-private information, bank securely, or act in one of the many other contexts they want to use throughout their life.

This outcome can be realized when users have an ability to quickly switch between contexts online and port their contexts to other use spots (such as other copies of Firefox) on the web.

Lucas Adamski's blog post

Tracking Control

Users must have control over their data, including greater transparency in data sharing practices, and in general bringing consumers in touch with how their data is shared, brokered and used throughout the web. A user should be able to assert the following claims:

1. I know what tracking is
2. I know who is tracking me
3. I can tell them to stop tracking me
4. I can discern if they listened to my request to stop
5. I can stop sites from tracking me if they don't listen

This outcome can be realized when users can confirm each of the five abilities.