Don't Be Fooled by Google's Fake New 'Privacy'

Google made waves today with software that purports to banish ad tracking cookies. In reality, virtually no one will use the software, it doesn't banish ad tracking cookies, and Google itself is the leading tracker to begin with.
Is Google Killing Firefox?
Google wants to be your Web browser, not just your search engine, which is why it unveiled Chrome last fall, a rival to Firefox. Now we hear Google's ready to hit Firefox in the pocketbook.
Mozilla's Mitchell Baker investigated over looks, not finances
Apple wanted Opera to be the iPhone browser
Firefox developer loses three months of browser-bug data
Firefox, Chrome already fighting over who's faster
What took Google so long to build a browser?
Firefox use growing, Internet Explorer slipping
Only four years after its launch, Mozilla's Google-milking cash cow Web browser, Firefox, is now approaching 20 percent market share, reports NetApplications, a website-statistics provider. Just two months ago, over 8 million people downloaded a copy of Firefox 3, in a marketing stunt which garnered Mozilla a Guinness…
"Affirmative... I poked one. It was dead."
Spotted in Dolores Park, a group of Firefox 3 fans building a robot from household items. Can you suggest a better headline? Do so in the comments. The best one will become the new headline. Yesterday's winner: "Spoiler Alert: Eric Schmidt Named As Final Cylon." by WagCurious. (Photo by JP Puerta)
Why does Firefox use Google for search? Follow the money
A new version of Firefox, the popular alternative Web browser, is getting close to releasing a third version. That's prompting people to take a close look at the business practices of Mozilla Corp., the maker of Firefox. Danny Sullivan, the longtime search-engine observer, is calling on Mozilla to let Firefox users…
Flock thumbs nose at Twitter by closing $15 million round
Flock, the social Web browser startup founded by former Mozilla business-development guy Bart Decrem, has defied its faded buzz to score an additional $15 million in funding, bringing the total raised in the $27 million range. Twitter, the current darling of The 250, has yet to close a rumored deal to raise the same…
Mitchell Baker earns her $500,000-a-year salary
Mozilla CTO Brendan Eich, right, watches skeptically as russet-haired Mozilla Foundation chair Mitchell Baker attempts to persuade a crowd at the browser nonprofit's 10th anniversary that it has yet to hit its peak. Leave your caption in the comments. (Photo by Randal Alan Smith)
Mozilla's 10th anniversary made Valleywag feel old
Mozilla's 10th anniversary party at 111 Minna last night felt a little like a high school reunion for the kids who didn't go to their high school reunion. The Mozilla Foundation, maker of the Firefox browser, feigned poverty by renting just half the gallery space and serving up crudités and issuing one drink ticket…
The man who didn't let AOL kill Firefox
Tomorrow, Netscape is officially dead: AOL is ending support for the venerable browser. But its offspring, Firefox, is thriving. Both Netscape and Firefox had several brushes with death. In 1998, "Microsoft was driving their monster truck after us and they were about to pin us to the wall," former Netscape software…
New Mozilla CEO wishes Firefox browser's profits were invisible
John Lilly, the new CEO of Mozilla Corporation, doesn't want you to pay attention to his new charge. The for-profit arm of the nonprofit Mozilla Foundation produces the Firefox browser and makes money largely by partnering with search engines — that's why the Firefox browser comes with a Google or Yahoo search box…
Opera's drama-queen antitrust lawsuit
Opera Software, maker of a feature-laden but forgotten Web browser, is complaining to the European Commission about Microsoft's Internet Explorer. It's an old gripe: Opera points out — duh — that IE is bundled with Windows. Opera claims this is illegal and that IE holds back the web with lousy support for standards.…
Firefox 3.0 open for (very profitable) business
Mozilla is looking for guinea pigs to try out the new version of its browser, Firefox 3 Beta 1. Mozilla calls itself a "foundation" and its slogan is "Good for the Web. Good for the World." But you know better than that. Mozilla topper Mitchell Baker makes $500,000-plus a year and Mozilla's for-profit wing brought in…
Firefox getting too corporate?
Firefox, we told you, gets a lot of cash from its built-in Google search box. It's one reason why the underdog label should no longer apply to the Mozilla browser. The New York Times is just now picking up on this story, and wonders if all the money will ruin Firefox.
