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Why's everyone freaking out about Firefox Terms of Service? Isn't it Open Source?
(lemmy.dbzer0.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2025
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Mozilla is changing the license used for the Firefox executable/binary. The TOS will be the governing license over Firefox, the branded browser executable. It will no longer be open source, as defined by the Open Source Initiative, as users are no longer free to use the software however they want. Firefox will now be source available.
The source code for the browser, is (at least as of this comment) FOSS under the MPL2 license. People are free to recompile the browser under a different name (e.g. Librewolf, Waterfox, etc.).
This is not FUD. I read through the new TOS, Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy. Since the browser executable was governed under the MPL2, there was little concern from the open source community. I made my judgement from those documents alone.
How can Firefox not be open source if its sources are under the MPL2 ?
It has always been the case that Firefox is a trademark and you can't distribute it under that name. However if the code is open source the project is too.