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Privacy reduced with new Firefox Sync?

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  • Last reply by DB

DB
DB
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The old Firefox Sync (before Firefox 29.0) came with end-to-end encryption. This technical limitation prevented Mozilla from reading the contents of users' browsing history and passwords.

If I understand correctly, the new Firefox Sync stores the encryption keys on their own servers (instead of the users' browser). Does this mean that Mozilla is now required to pass on this private information to police, NSA, and other government agencies when required, and is susceptible to mass data breaches from bad actors?

If true, are there any alternatives to the new Firefox Sync (short of hosting my own Sync service) that continue to use end-to-end encryption?

The old Firefox Sync (before Firefox 29.0) came with end-to-end encryption. This technical limitation prevented Mozilla from reading the contents of users' browsing history and passwords. If I understand correctly, the new Firefox Sync stores the encryption keys on their own servers (instead of the users' browser). Does this mean that Mozilla is now required to pass on this private information to police, NSA, and other government agencies when required, and is susceptible to mass data breaches from bad actors? If true, are there any alternatives to the new Firefox Sync (short of hosting my own Sync service) that continue to use end-to-end encryption?

Modified by DB

All Replies (2)

John99
John99
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I can not fully answer this but please follow

  • /questions/993302#answer-571374 are bookmarks encrypted?
    I have cross linked some other threads in that post and some of the user facing documentation I could find.
  • /questions/999581#answer-571391 If I disable my master password and enable sync of my passwords, how are they encrypted? What is my encryption key?
    I have escalated that post to try to get a proper answer, (and also start up discussion about the documentation -we maintain some documents ourselves).
DB
DB Question owner
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Brian Warner's blog post seems to address the question: "Sync will still provide end-to-end encryption, but accessed by a password instead of pairing." https://blog.mozilla.org/warner/2014/04/02/pairing-problems/

The first comment on that blog post mentions the new password method is one-factor authentication rather than two-factor authentication of the original "pair devices" method.