A Mozilla director has recommended Firefox users switch the default search engine on their internet browser to Microsoft Bing in a response to comments made by Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.
Schmidt, during an interview with TV network CNBC, said the company would have to submit users’ details to authorities if the situation warranted a handover.
“If you have something that you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it in the first place. If you really need that kind of privacy, the reality is that search engines – including Google – do retain this information for some time and it’s important, for example, that we are all subject in the United States to the Patriot Act and it is possible that all that information could be made available to the authorities.”
In response, Mozilla director of community development Asa Dotzler wrote a blog post in which he recommended users change their default setting from Google to Bing.
The move isn’t just retaliatory – Mozilla reportedly receives money from Google for having it as the default search engine. Dotzler explained the move in a blog post of his own.
“Users have a right to privacy online and to understand exactly what they’re giving up in exchange for the great services available from companies like Google,” he concluded.
“I understand the value in that negotiation, but for several years things have become increasingly out of balance with the service companies gathering more and more data and making it harder for users to understand the implications and exert control and I think it’s past time that the pendulum swing back towards user control.”
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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