Mozilla publishes a privacy and security guide for 70 popular connected devices, including drones and wearables, ahead of the holiday season
some of which may not rate much better than coal. http://www.wired.com/... @torproject : “A good rule of thumb when it comes to internet-connected toys is not to buy them.” http://www.wired.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
This guide is Mozilla translating the IoT-security concerns of its Internet Health Report 2018 into a consumer-facing shopping tool: instead of diagnosing industry-wide problems once a year, it grades 70 specific devices — drones, wearables, toys — at the moment people actually buy them. The timing is deliberate, aimed at the holiday season when connected gadgets move in volume.
The format proved durable. Mozilla went on to apply the same audit approach to period and pregnancy tracking apps, then to 25 major car brands' internet-connected models, making device-level privacy scoring a recurring franchise rather than a one-off.
First-order effects
- Holiday shoppers get a public scorecard for 70 popular devices just as gift purchases peak, so weak privacy practices now carry a visible cost at the point of sale.
- Device makers whose products rate poorly — the description suggests some 'may not rate much better than coal' — face reputational exposure during their highest-volume sales window.
Second-order effects
- Retailers and manufacturers of poorly rated devices are pushed toward privacy fixes or marketing pushback, since a Mozilla grade becomes a quotable negative in product reviews and buying guides.
- Mozilla converts its nonprofit trust position into ongoing relevance beyond the browser, complementing its own WebThings open-source IoT platform with an auditing role over the wider device market.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — cars in 2023, wearables in 2022, devices in 2018 — independent privacy audits fill the gap left by lagging regulation, becoming a de facto certification layer for consumer IoT.
- The deeper problem Mozilla itself later articulated — that ordinary buyers cannot be expected to manage a house full of insecure smart devices — points toward pressure on vendors to ship secure defaults rather than rely on informed consumers.
The trend: Mozilla is evolving from browser maker into the consumer internet's independent auditor, publishing recurring privacy scorecards across device categories faster than regulators act.