A Firefox system add-on called telemetry-coverage may still be sending your IP address data to Mozilla even if you explicitly turn off telemetry data -

This is from a year ago, but I didn’t see this level of persistence in gathering telemetry before. I am blocking most mozilla tracking endpoints via host file, but that’s a bit extreme.

Apparently you can create a custom preference to block it:

The good news is that it is possible to turn off telemetry-coverage if you are one of the lucky 1% selected to have it installed. To do so, you need to manually create a preference to opt out of Firefox telemetry antics a second time. Information on how to do so isn’t so forthcoming, either. It’s buried in the bugtracker for the telemetry-coverage system add-on but has been tested as working by Mozilla’s devs:

  • Dreeg Ocedam
    8•3 years ago

    This is kind of garbage. Basically, if you disable telemetry yet allow Mozilla to run and install studies, they might have installed and run a study about telemetry options of Firefox :o face:

    This article is really biased, focusing a ton on “Your IP address”, so it’s basically an ad for their VPN. Given the super aggressive and not fully honest advertising, I don’t trust Private Internet Access at all.

    Everything they talk about has an explicit trigger in the privacy settings. The only thing that is a bit sketchy is the leanplum “marketing data” which IMO should not exist, but there is still a simple switch to turn it off. Telemetry is not an issue. Mozilla is not an ad company and has no incentive to abuse it, and it allows them to focus their efforts on the features that matter the most. I leave it on.

    Note that this article is a year old.

    • ufraOP
      1•3 years ago

      This is from a year ago,

      That was my first sentence :)

      You seem to know a lot about firefox development and I agree after reading your comment that the source is not bulletproof.

      ghacks has an even older article : https://www.ghacks.net/2018/09/21/mozilla-wants-to-estimate-firefoxs-telemetry-off-population/

      I will look further into the issue.

      Regarding “Mozilla is not an ad company and has no incentive to abuse it”, their current business model is selling space on their search engine list, so I would say they have incentive to conduct unwanted data collection to sell that 500M spot.