Any idea where I can find more info about the Mozilla Data Safety Team referenced at https://blog.mozilla.com/privacy/2012/01/13/mozilla-to-offer-new-user-centric-services-in-2012/

I searched the wiki, but no luck ( or else I wouldn't have asked :| )

I couldn't agree more with this. So it suprises me that every day, via the seatch box, Mozilla shops millions of its users to Google, a company with a terribly invasive privacy policy.

It's been asked before on here (but the question was dodged) - I wonder if another search engine bid for that search box, and if so was their privacy policy less invasive than Google's?

The fact that Google paid three times as much as they did last time suggests they weren't the only bidder. Which also suggests Mozilla were prepared to put their privacy values to one side in order to collect a bigger cheque.

I'm happy to be proved wrong. But as a previous commenter pointed out, the terms of the deal are Closed, so we're left to guess.

"Which also suggests Mozilla were prepared to put their privacy values to one side in order to collect a bigger cheque."

I guess it's a term of prioritization. The extra funds allow Mozilla to put more resources into existing projects or start new ones. This will probably be more effective in ensuring that the Open Web persists than not taking the money from a company which name is synonymous with "search" (to google is a verb in multiple languages already). Even if Firefox were to switch the default search engine I reckon most people would switch back to Google anyway where Google has a majority in the search market. I also doubt that there exists more privacy-oriented search provider that can pay nearly as much as Google would do. Can you imagine DuckDuckGo paying about 1 Billion dollars over a three year period? Firefox and therefore Mozilla is already under heavy strain and they'll need all the resources they get to have a fighting chance and not devolve into obscurity which would be bad for everybody.

Pick you poison.

That's fine Erunno, I just wished Mozilla would be more Open and honest about this topic. On the one hand they advocate user privacy (see Mitchel's post) and on the other they remain completely silent about the process by which one of the worst privacy offenders on earth won the search box deal.

Bing is a much better actor in this regard, I'm pretty sure their parent could afford such a deal. The question is why have Google paid three times more this time round than before; my guess is because there was a bidding war. That means Mozilla had the offer of cash - plenty of cash - from someone else but screwed their users anyway by shopping them to a company that will treat their privacy with utter contempt.

Rather than leave all this to guesswork I'd much prefer if Mozilla would be Open about this topic, but the question is persistently dodged. Perhaps they did pick their poison and decided that having more cash was worth setting aside some privacy concerns. That's fine, but let's hear them say it.

Hey I Google-bash occasionally too, but there is info about the deal online including about other bidders. Search for it.
You probably won't find the exact details because it's a business deal with Google and they're probably bound by confidentiality.

Mozilla has said in the past that it chooses the default search provider according to things other than just cash, like, what the users want. Google has nearly 80% market share for search (http://marketshare.hitslink.com/search-engine-market-share.aspx?qprid=4&qpcustomd=). The majority of people use Google. Why would Mozilla offer something that people didn't want or enjoy.
No matter who got that default spot, users would change it back to Google.

I'd love to see a good, open source, privacy first search provider but there isn't one. Not a competitive one. Google's results aren't even as good as they used to be, but people still blindly use it, yes, despite privacy concerns.

Google search plus privacy = https://startpage.com/
That's the best that I've come across.
I keep trying Bing, and side by side, and it just isn't for me, and apparently, not for a whole lot of other people either.

Just please cut Mozilla some slack.

i loved your site, thanks!