Mozilla Proposes “Awakening” as the Word for 2020, Urges Internet Users to Wake up to the Reality of the Internet

The non-profit outlines three strategies for EMG (Emerging Markets Group); enriches Firefox Lite with new Travel feature

by Priya Jadhav

January 24, 2020: The Web was a chaotic place in 2019. Mozilla, a long-term advocate of internet health, revealed its strategy for the EMG (Emerging Markets Group) market in 2020, and said it hopes the word for the Internet in 2020 is “awakening”. It called on the public to increase their awareness and stay vigilant of privacy risks and security issues in an era where commercial interests come first and big data are heavily exploited online. 

Stan Leong, Vice President & General Manager of Emerging Markets, Mozilla, said, “Moving forward in 2020, we focus our efforts on three strategic pillars - internet health advocacy, talent development, and product innovation. These pillars are targeted towards drawing the attention of the industry, government, and academia to the issue of Surveillance Economy (which commoditizes personal data of internet users).”

“We aim to open local recruitment, foster innovative thinking and help local talents connect to the world. In view of the deepening harms of Surveillance Economy on online security and privacy, we are exploring product innovation opportunities. We endeavor to develop technologies that truly empower users and allow everyone to benefit from what the digital world can offer,” he added.

Driving Innovations for Addressing Surveillance Economy

For talent development, Mozilla rolls out the Dev Tech Speaker Program that provides a platform for all the contributors to Mozilla, Firefox and Open Web to exchange ideas and increase their visibility around the world.

According to 2019 Iposos-World Economic Forum report¹, only 36% respondents trust various types of organizations with how they handle personal data. Mozilla is working on three key areas—content discovery and disinformation, identity systems and data commons—and conducting user research and product development in hopes of safeguarding people’s online privacy and security as well as the health of the internet. These topics are a priority for Mozilla this year with solutions revolving around:

• Creating chain(s) of trust for content
• Transparency of user data collection and usage
• Enabling an environment that balances identity and anonymity and empowering users to control their own digital identity 

Firefox Lite now a comprehensive mobile browsing platform, added with new Travel feature

Since its launch in 2018, Firefox Lite has transformed into a global multi-function mobile browsing platform. Users can compare prices across multiple sites with Smart Shopping Search, play more than 100 popular free games without installing gaming apps, and stay up to date with trending news.

Today, Firefox Lite is further augmented with the whole new Travel feature, which partners with firms including Wikimedia, KKday, and Booking.com to offer a one-stop browsing experience. Users can search for destinations and instantly get travel recommendations, guides and hotel prices. Users can also add destinations and relevant guides to their bucket list, making travel planning much easier and quicker.

Additionally, with Enhanced Tracking Protection in Private Browsing, it protects users from third-party tracking cookies. Firefox Lite is now available in 30 markets, having expanded its presence to cover more countries in EMG including India.

Download the latest Firefox Lite

Disclaimer:  Certain features may not be available in some markets, and are subject to change without notice.

1: 2019 Iposos-World Economic Forum report: https://reurl.cc/M7Kmdm.

About Mozilla: Mozilla is a pioneer and advocate for the Open Web for more than 15 years. We create and promote open standards that enable innovation and advance the Web as a platform for all. Today, hundreds of millions of people worldwide use Mozilla Firefox to experience the Web on computers, tablets and mobile devices. For more information, visit https://mozilla-next.com/