Misgivings about the Firefox – Google Toolbar deal

Through AdSense Referrals, AdSense publishers can now encourage users to download Firefox, and get a dollar per download and installation – but the version of Firefox they download comes with the Google Toolbar preinstalled. I have misgivings about this. On the one hand, spreading Firefox is quite nice. On the other hand, this bundled deal with Google Toolbar makes me somewhat uncomfortable. With Firefox engineers Bryan Ryner, Ben Goodger, and Darin Fisher all working for Google, with Google’s default search engine status within Firefox delivering the bulk of Firefox’s revenue, and now with this, I’m worried Firefox is gradually losing its independence and will become the de facto Google Browser. And while I’m acutely aware of my status as a hypocrite, since I use Google, GMail, and Google Maps extensively and have Google AdSense ads on my blog, I still don’t completely trust Google – personally-identifiable information goes in, but it doesn’t come back out, and that’s not the type of business model I want to see predominate. I can’t really fault the Mozilla Foundation for making the deal – but I wish it wasn’t so.