Thanks everyone for your active participation here. We knew this would have a lot of interest and so we’ve waited to dive into the conversation because we see some themes emerging that I’ll respond to broadly here. The main concerns I’m noting are around the license agreements we declare, our use of data for AI, and our Acceptable Use Policy. Below are a few clarifications to each of these areas.
I admit, not the best example. I was implicitly referring to Notepad from Windows 10 and earlier, which didn’t have any online functionality yet, and thus would be excluded from large amounts of the license terms. The linked License Terms and Privacy Policy are written to apply to any and all Software from Microsoft.
In order to make our interpretation efforts easier, let’s use a non-Microsoft example, Notepad++: During the installation, you are presented with the GNU GPLv3 license, which pertains only to the distribution of the (parts of the) program. Even after the installation, the only mention of a license is the GNU GPLv3. There is no Notepad++ Usage License or Privacy Policy, because there is no other party i interact with.
If I use cURL to send a request to Google, cURL doesn’t need a license to pinky-promise it actually does what I tell it to do. cURL is not a party, it is a tool. I do need a license for Google, because they process, store and use my provided information beyond the search itself.
The web request is sent by Firefox, not Mozilla. Mozilla is not acting on my behalf when issuing a web request. One might argue Firefox is, but that is no different from the Linux kernel acting on its behalf to issue that request to the Ethernet card, and the cards firmware to act on the kernels behalf to do what it says. None of these parts have license terms that restrict, let alone mention these processes.
There is no reason why Firefox needs these license terms to operate.