cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/33165280
I got a copy of the text from the email, and added it below, with personal information and link trackers removed.
Hello [receiver’s name],
I’ve long dreamed about working for Mozilla. I learned how to send encrypted e-mail using Mozilla Thunderbird, and I’ve been a Firefox user since almost as long as I can remember. In more recent years, I’ve been an avid follower of Mozilla’s advocacy work, and was lucky enough to partner with Mozilla on investigative journalism in my last job.
In many ways, Mozilla was the dream – and now, as the leader of the Foundation, my job is to make my dreams for Mozilla come true. What that means, though, is making your dreams come true – for a trustworthy and open future of technology; for tech that is a tool for liberation, not limitation; and for tech that values people over profit.
So I’m reaching out to technologists, activists, researchers, engineers, policy experts, and, most importantly, to you – the people who make up the Mozilla community – to ask a simple question.
[receiver’s name]. What is your dream for Mozilla? I invite you to take a moment to share your thoughts by completing this brief survey.
Let’s start with this question:
Question 1: What is most important to you right now about technology and the internet?
- Protecting my privacy online
- Avoiding scams
- Choosing products, apps, technology, and services that I can trust
- Keeping children safe online
- Responsible use of AI
- Keeping the internet is open and free
- Knowing how to spot misinformation
- Other (please specify)
With your help, together we can imagine and create the Internet we want. Thank you for being a part of this.
Always yours,
Nabiha Syed Executive Director Mozilla Foundation
Regarding AI, there are only options on what would be great with AI. There simply is no option “No, I don’t f-ing want AI” in a Mozilla product.
I want a Browser and an EMail program. Not something that tries to do thinking for me.
Amen. Basically this survey reads to me as “we decided to focus on AI and we need some pretty graphs to show it’s an awesome idea - please tell us why you think AI is the best thing ever!”
That’s exactly what I took from it as well. It’s a survey designed to get the answers they want, not the actual feedback they’re pretending to ask for.
There are a couple ‘Other - Please Specify’ fields I definitely filled out with ‘Do not do AI’.
I really like their local translation models. Simply saying “no AI!” feels very luddite to me for such a broad category.
I have no problem with things like Mozilla Common Voice. I have a big problem with integrating machine-learning stuff into Firefox by default.
I remember back when
PhoenixFirebirdFirefox first came out, the whole fucking point of it was to be a fast, bare-bones browser, and that people could pick and choose what extra features they wanted by installing extensions. IMO that’s the way it still ought to be.Ironically SeaMonkey, the continuation of Mozilla Suite, seems lighter than Firefox.
The luddites were not opposed to technology
It’s about priorities. Fix the ducking browser first, get market share, THEN you fuck around with random shit.
Regarding AI, I filled it in as following:
That’s pretty much what I wrote in the comment box. The options for the multiple choice questions don’t really acknowledge that as a preference people might have.
Dude thats not realistic at all. The industry is moving that way and all companies have to follow , if companies dont do they will eventually die , just look at Yahoo , AOL , Phillips , etc barely surviving and nothing what they used to be. Why? Mostly because they were complacent and stay conservative not innovating fast enough.
I don’t think that’s necessarily true. What I do think is true is that there’s a chance some AI thing will be a trillion dollar investment, and the most motivating thing for VCs is fear of missing out on a giant score.
A nonprofit open source profit ought to have different motivations though.