Firefox & Facebook Friday Five!

There's slim pickings from the Mozilla camp this week. Other than the release of Lorentz (3.6.4) (out of process plugins!!), there's really nothing Firefoxy to report on. Instead, we're going to roll the Firefox column into another topic starting with the letter 'F': Facebook. Still, hang in there: I'm going to do my best to dredge up some useful and interesting bits for Firefox. There's even a funny, viral-worthy picture at the end!

1. Facebook has Google, and thus dominion of the Internet, in its sights

I'm no stock broker, but I bet Microsoft is thanking its lucky stars. It sure seems like they backed the right horse when they bought a large chunk of Facebook back in 2007 -- people scoffed at Facebook's $15 billion valuation then, but today... no one really knows how much Facebook is worth.

With some 400 million highly-active and loyal users -- 500 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every month -- Facebook looks set to overtake Google as the largest property on the Internet. I think it now becomes more a matter of what Facebook does with its dominion: you've seen the new 'global' Like system and 'interests as Pages', but now you will see monetization. There is speculation that Facebook might be worth hundreds of billions which would put it very close to Google's market valuation. I think we're about to see Google AdSense blown out of the water with Facebook's unrivalled ability to personalize advertising -- I just can't see why businesses would spend money with Google when Facebook can deliver more bang for the buck.

(Incidentally, if you want to get in on the 'universal Liking' thing, Lee just reviewed a great bookmarklet! Go grab it and feed Facebook with your browsing habits!)
2. With great power comes great responsibility, though: Facebook and Google are on a collision course when it comes to privacy

This week also brought news that Facebook is extending its lobbying presence in Washington D.C. Though Facebook's expenditure of $200k in 2009 is nothing compared to Google's $4.3 million, it's the next titbit that's more worrying: Facebook has been actively courting the Department of Defence and the intelligence agencies. To be fair, as VentureBeat says, both Google and Microsoft are also in cahoots with the Department of the Defence, but only Facebook has a direct link to the intelligence agencies.

Ostensibly such lobbying is usually done to protect a company's interests. In Facebook and Google's case it's all about privacy and net neutrality. They're both stepping uncomfortably close to current privacy laws, and in many cases stepping well over the line -- but no one can stop them... at least in the U.S.! Curiously, a bunch of western nations -- the USA excluded -- sent a pleadingly demanding letter to Google, asking them to tighten up the privacy issues inherent to its services. I have no idea why the letter was sent to Google and not Facebook, but it's a sign of the times: Google, and Facebook by extension, will hopefully face tightening privacy laws around the world. Facebook's current contact with intelligence agencies might be benevolent, but it only takes the tiniest change of policies... -- I hope people appreciate just how easy it would be for Facebook to flip to the bad side.

Incidentally: France and the UK, both rather infamous when it comes to the right of privacy (or 'privilege' as the sad case may be), were involved in that scolding letter to Google... so maybe there is hope yet for the poor citizens of these almost-police states!

Firefox for Mobile (Maemo devices) is coming along nicely, as this image of Fennec 1.1's new start page shows. There's a landscape version too. The image is fairly explanatory, but the 'tabs from your other computers' button is the one that leaps out at me. If you're reading something on your desktop machine, and then grab your phone and run out the door... your tab is right there in Fennec ready to be opened. Neat. Firefox for Mobile 1.1 isn't quite ready, but you can grab a nightly version if you want to give it a go -- check out Mark Finkle's guide to running the nightlies because it isn't easy.

Worth noting: if you liked Fennec 1.0's original start page (recently visited sites and bookmarks), you can switch back in the Preferences.

4. Mozilla Labs are looking for more input from the community: that means you, Firefox users and add-on developers!

Dubbed 'open ideation', Mozilla Labs isn't directly asking for Firefox feedback; rather, they want to know how they can make the whole process, from original spark to implementation, more streamlined. If you submit your idea to Mozilla Labs, what kind of feedback would you like? General themes, or hands-on guidance? Are there particular topics that Mozilla Labs should blog about more?

There's been a lot of 'community outreach' chatter from Mozilla in the past few weeks. It might be a while until we see the fruits of their labors -- but no rush, I guess!

5. Using Firefox could get you put in detention...

Finally, I leave you with a detention slip -- it's old, and you might have seen it before... but I just felt Firefox Friday needed something a little more light-hearted. It's Friday afternoon after all! There's even a few reports that this is a hoax, but I like to believe some wizened, robed beardy really did write a detention letter for a student's maligned and continued used of 'Foxfire.exe'...

Have a nice weekend.

Tags: commentary, facebook, firefox, firefox friday five, FirefoxFridayFive, google, lobbying, politics, privacy