The web developer Mozilla, mainly known for its internet browser Firefox, has joined the rush of legacy internet platforms jumping into the Web3 and metaverse development space. In a blog post announcement on Nov. 30, the company revealed its acquisition of Active Replica, an immersive experience developer. Active Replica is joining Mozilla’s Hubs creator platform to help create virtual events. Already the virtual experience developer has worked with Mozilla during its multi-day arts and tech festival Mozfest earlier this year. According to Mozilla the acquisition will also be important to accelerate in demand work, personalized subscription tiers, on-boarding improvements and …

The Mozilla Foundation's back-tracking on crypto has earned a reaction from the creator of the world's first meme cryptocurrency. On Dec. 31, 2021, Mozilla, the developers of the Firefox internet browser, tweeted that the company was accepting cryptos like Dogecoin (DOGE), Ether (ETH), and Bitcoin (BTC) as donations, along with a Bitpay donation link. However, less than a week later, the campaign was stopped after it received backlash from users and programmer Jamie Zawinski, a co-founder of Mozilla. According to Zawinski, everyone involved should be “ashamed of this decision to partner with planet-incinerating Ponzi grifters.” Zawinski didn’t stop there. As …

The Mozilla Foundation has put cryptocurrency donations on hold following a community backlash sparked by trenchant criticism from co-founder Jamie Zawinski. Last week the development company behind the Firefox browser tweeted an appeal for donations in cryptocurrency. But earlier today, Mozilla announced it had paused crypto donations due to the online discussion around crypto’s environmental impact. Last week, we tweeted a reminder that Mozilla accepts cryptocurrency donations. This led to an important discussion about cryptocurrency’s environmental impact. We’re listening, and taking action. 1/4 — Mozilla (@mozilla) January 6, 2022 Mozilla said it will continue to explore decentralized web technology, but …

Unstoppable Domains, a Tim Draper-backed startup focused on blockchain-based uncensorable websites, has launched a decentralized chat protocol. The so-called “Unstoppable Chat”, or simply “dChat” aims to promote confidentiality through a peer-to-peer network and end-to-end encryption. Opposed to mainstream messengers like Facebook, dChat enables users to own, encrypt, and store their messages themselves on their own servers. Users need an Ethereum wallet private key to sign in In order to allow users to fully control their messages, dChat integrates with a user’s cryptocurrency wallet and P2P networks. In order to sign in to the chat, users need to have an Ethereum …

The recent Firefox’s zero-day security flaw was used in attacks against major crypto exchange and wallet service Coinbase, according to a tweet from Coinbase security researcher Philip Martin posted on June 20. As Martin found, the reported critical zero-day vulnerability in Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, which was announced on June 18, has actually emerged along with another zero-day flaw that targeted Coinbase employees, meaning that there were two separate Firefox zero-day attacks. The Coinbase security expert tweeted: “On Monday, Coinbase detected & blocked an attempt by an attacker to leverage the reported 0-day, along with a separate 0-day firefox sandbox …

Major open-source browser Mozilla Firefox has launched new protections against crypto mining malware in its new browser versions, according to a blog post published on April 9. In its latest Firefox Nightly 68 and Beta 67 versions, Mozilla has enabled a new level of protection against crypto mining and fingerprinting hack attacks in a part of the browser’s Content Blocking suite of protections. The new browsing feature has been developed in collaboration with privacy and security software firm Disconnect, and represents a collection of blacklists of malware domains associated with fingerprinting and crypto mining scripts. Disconnect’s blacklist is reportedly capable …

The Stellar Development Foundation announced the appointment of former chief operating officer at IT non-profit Mozilla, Denelle Dixon, as its new CEO and executive director. The company announced the event via a press release published on March 14. The current executive director and co-founder of the foundation, Jed McCaleb, will now focus on the network protocol and adoption strategy as chief architect. Per the press release, during her work at Mozilla, Dixon reportedly led the company’s fight for net neutrality and control over personal data. McCaleb commented in the press release, stating that Dixon’s advocacy for an open internet, encryption …

Brave browser, developed by Mozilla co-founder Brendan Eich, has filed privacy complaints in Ireland and Britain against Google, Reuters reported September 13. Brave is an open-source blockchain-powered browser, which blocks ads and website trackers. The browser is designed to improve online privacy by sharing less personal data with advertising customers, yet targeting web ads by analyzing anonymized user browsing behavior. The complaint reportedly states that Google and the advertising technology (adtech) industry practice “wide-scale and systematic breaches of the data protection regime” in the way they publish personalized online ads. The complaint further explains that while a user is visiting …

Firefox will block cryptojacking malware in future versions of its web browser, according to an announcement August 30. The move comes as part of an anti-tracking initiative expected to be implemented over the next few months. In the announcement, Firefox cites a study by browser extension Ghostery, stating that 55.4 percent of the total time required to load an average website is spent loading third party trackers. Future versions of Firefox will reportedly block such practices as cryptomining scripts that “silently mine cryptocurrencies” on users’ devices by default. By blocking tracking and offering a “clear set of controls,” Firefox is …