It is now an end-of-year tradition: Mozilla has released its buying guide for the most respectful products for your personal data. On its Privacy not included site, the foundation that publishes the Firefox browser has reviewed more than 75 gadgets to identify those who snoop a little too much into privacy.
From least scary to scariest
Launched in 2017, this buying guide “focused on privacy rather than price or performance” grows year after year, as our lives fill with connected products. In 2022, the foundation is concerned that “more and more connected objects are targeting children, in particular connected watches”. Mozilla also regrets that “these devices collect a lot of personal data and trivialize the monitoring of children from an early age”.
Of course, the guide doesn’t just pass judgment based on each gadget’s affiliations with its parent company. To establish its classification of objects “from least scary to scariest”, Mozilla has reviewed each product’s privacy policies and offers a summary of data sharing policies, a brand’s privacy history, and technical information for each to help users make an informed choice. . Advice for protecting your privacy is also listed on each product sheet.
The ugly duckling of this year is without too much surprise the Meta Quest Pro which embeds “16 cameras in your home (and on your body!), and is developed by a company known for betraying the trust and privacy of its users” (Facebook). According to Mozilla, to fully understand what data is shared and how with this VR headset, you have to open no less than 14 documents and stuff around 37,700 words. “While I struggle to understand this as a privacy researcher, consumers are far worse off. It is not normal”protests Jen Caltrider, executive at Mozilla.
Among the lowest rated products, there are also Portal screens from Facebook or connected gadgets from Amazon. On the other side of the spectrum, the Garmin Epix watch hailed for its good data security, or the Sonos SL speaker which does not include voice-activated microphones. If you’re looking for gifts for your privacy-conscious friends, Mozilla’s catalog is a good start.