Starting next week, Mozilla is rolling out a new requirement for all new Firefox extensions to explicitly disclose their personal data collection practices. This change is designed to give users greater clarity and visibility into what information extensions gather during the installation process.
Mandating Data Disclosure
The requirement only applies to new extensions submitted to the browser's add-ons platform. New versions of existing extensions are not immediately affected, but this will change next year.
To comply, developers must use the specific key browser_specific_settings.gecko.data_collection_permissions within the manifest.json file to declare their data collection capabilities. If an extension does not collect or transmit any personal data, developers are still required to specify this by setting the "none required" data collection permission in this property.
Increased User Transparency
The declared data collection practices will be visible to users in two places:
- On the addons.mozilla.org page for extensions that are publicly listed.
- On the extension’s internal Firefox about:addons page, located in the Permissions and Data section.
Mozilla notes that extensions supporting older versions of Firefox (prior to version 140 for Desktop or 142 for Android) must continue to provide users with a clear way to control the add-on's data collection immediately after installation.
Any extension that begins using the new data_collection_permissions key will be required to continue using it for all subsequent updates. Extensions that fail to set this property correctly will be rejected from being submitted for signing.
Looking ahead, Mozilla announced that by next year, all Firefox extensions will be required to use the data_collection_permissions keys to declare their data collection capabilities.
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