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A company whose website I only glanced at briefly followed me to my inbox

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  • Last reply by Kiki

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I was looking up a Kinder candy product called "Happy Hippo" yesterday afternoon, and briefly surfed around a website for a weird American supplement company with the same name that also came up in the search results. (Just out of curiosity trying to figure out what the supplement they were selling even was.)

That supplement company subsequently showed up in my inbox this morning offering me a discount code. And to state the obvious: I ABSOLUTELY did not give this sketchy supplement company my email address while on their site.

I would be alarmed to find any company tracking me to my inbox after simply browsing their website for less than two minutes, but for it to happen after using Firefox Focus, I'm also dismayed.

I've already unsubscribed from their mailings and sent a strongly worded email about the invasion of internet user privacy, but half the problem must also lie on Firefox Focus' end. I don't know who can look for bugs or loopholes that would have let this happen, but hopefully reporting it here will start that process.

I was looking up a Kinder candy product called "Happy Hippo" yesterday afternoon, and briefly surfed around a website for a weird American supplement company with the same name that also came up in the search results. (Just out of curiosity trying to figure out what the supplement they were selling even was.) That supplement company subsequently showed up in my inbox this morning offering me a discount code. And to state the obvious: I ABSOLUTELY did not give this sketchy supplement company my email address while on their site. I would be alarmed to find any company tracking me to my inbox after simply browsing their website for less than two minutes, but for it to happen after using Firefox Focus, I'm also dismayed. I've already unsubscribed from their mailings and sent a strongly worded email about the invasion of internet user privacy, but half the problem must also lie on Firefox Focus' end. I don't know who can look for bugs or loopholes that would have let this happen, but hopefully reporting it here will start that process.

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Hey Alexis,

I can assure you that we're not responsible for that creepiness. If you're curious about what kind of data we collect on Firefox Focus, feel free to check out Firefox Focus and Klar privacy notice here.

Also, thanks for using Firefox Focus. You're on a right path if you really care about user's privacy. 😉