Privacy is a big concern today, especially when sensitive information gets leaked and everyone gets worked over their own information eventually leaking to the public. People therefore use Virtual Private Networks or VPNs to browse the internet safely and without fear of their information getting intercepted. VPNs are essential to online browsing, especially when using public networks. Private networks are much safer. Mozilla is looking to implement their own privacy suite into Firefox and their other products, to improve privacy and security. Here is a detailed look at their plans.
Search Engine Royalties Contract Ending in 2020
Mozilla is planning to make their shift towards building an Office 365 equivalent of a suite, by offering more products, the only caveat being that you need to create their account, which is free, by the way.
The reason for this shift is that their contracts with search engine providers is going to end in 2020. Another reason is that they are lagging behind Chrome and Microsoft Edge in market share, on the desktop. They are at 10% while Edge is at 14%, leaving the rest to Chrome. This is quite a difference, especially for their main product.
The irony is that Google is one of their main benefactors when it comes to royalties, as Mozilla earns about 95% of its revenue from Search Engine Royalties. Google is their main competitor and benefactor, at the same time.
Plans for a Software Suite
There are plenty of programs which Mozilla can offer you, from the browser, which should be their main product, Firefox, to tools which can help you stay safe. Other things you would have access to are Lockwise, which will store passwords, Firefox Monitor, to monitor your network for suspicious activities. Thunderbird will be your email manager, like it already is for some people. Firefox Send will allow you to send huge files but not store them and Pocket will be used to filter out news.
On top of all of that, their security should improve immensely by integrating Tor, a browser which uses Firefox code at its base and consequently looks and behaves almost identically like Firefox.
Mozilla Makes a Deal with ProtonVPN
ProtonVPN is a reputable VPN provider and Mozilla already has a deal with them. This means that people will be able to connect to the internet with extra security features from the Tor integration, as well as those of an additional VPN.
Even the competition, other VPN providers, are looking forward to this. Security companies are looking forward to more security in browsers and in general, as that drives the industry forward.
Mozilla will be changing things up, and whether that is for better or worse, remains to be seen.