Aral BalkanDec 21, 2022

#Mozilla is creating a fediverse instance. What is Mozilla?

• A “not-for-profit” that owns multiple for-profit businesses and pays its CEO $5.6M
• Gets ~83% of its revenue (~$500,000,000) every year from surveillance capitalist Google
• Makes a browser that protects your privacy (*some configuration required)
• Is now a VC…

This is the best we can expect from Silicon Valley/capitalism. Question is: can we do better than that?

Sources: https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2021/mozilla-fdn-2021-fs-final-1010.pdf, https://assets.mozilla.net/annualreport/2021/mozilla-fdn-990-ty21-public-disclosure.pdf

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Show threadAral BalkanDec 21, 2022

… Perhaps the best way to understand Mozilla is in the words of their president on their new VC arm:

“We see a lot of startups who want to tackle things like privacy, trustworthy AI, and alternatives to Twitter… alternatives are not going to emerge unless there’s founders and companies who build them. And the founders are not going to build them unless there’s money aligned with their vision … So I think we need to still be about commerce and creating wealth”

https://www.yahoo.com/video/mozilla-foundation-mark-surman-rethinking-120004066.html

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Yahooist Teil der Yahoo Markenfamilie

Show threadAral BalkanDec 21, 2022

… Or, in what a previous head of public policy at Mozilla told me while we were chatting before our talks at a data protection conference:

“Aral, we’re just another Silicon Valley tech company, I don’t understand why you’re holding us to a such a higher standard.”

When I finally managed to pick my jaw off the floor the only retort I could manage was: “But that’s not what you tell people.”

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#Mozilla #fediverse #SiliconValley #ventureCapital #BigTech

Show threadDario

@aral I need to thank you for sharing this.

It’s such a good reminder of reality.

Dec 21, 2022 at 3:31pmWeb