New Extension Data Consent Experience now available in Firefox Nightly

[alanmbyrne]

Calling all Firefox extension developers! 

Hello, Alan here again - Product Manager working on Firefox extensions. 👋

In a recent blog post I explained that we’re working to streamline the data consent experience for extensions.

I’m pleased to announce that the initial version of this feature is now available in Firefox Nightly version 139 (and later) for extension developers to test out and provide feedback! We want to make sure that the new data consent experience is easy for extension developers to adopt, and works as a drop-in replacement for any existing custom consent experiences you may have created. We also need to know if the data categories available to choose from are appropriate for your extension.

Please take a look at how you can implement this new experience for your extensions in Firefox Nightly, and then please share any feedback or comments that you have to help make this better below!

Thanks in advance!

[lilydjwg]

I have a simple question: what does "collect" here mean? Does an extension that merely processes data locally count? E.g. an extension that searches / reorders / groups the user's bookmarks in some way, or an extension that deletes certain history based on user's input, or an extension that injects code into a webpage that doesn't cause any data to be sent.

[alanmbyrne]

That is an excellent question! "Collect" includes all data or information the add-on transmits outside of boundaries of the extension or the local browser, such as to an external web server or another program or process on the users computer.

Processing data locally within the add-on and browser, in the examples that you give, probably aren't considered data collection as they're happening locally.