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Mozilla's mission calls us to engage in
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the world, to understand the online world
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to improve it, and to join with others.
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The exact style with which we join with
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others may change over time even as the
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mission remains constant. This is our
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first style of engaging with the world.
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You'll notice it's very open-source
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focused,
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it's very developer focused, and it is an
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invitation to participate in building a
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better internet. In its day this was
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radical. Open-source was not mainstream,
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there was no open data open government.
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open science,
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there was no collaborative economy, there
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was no sharing economy, there was very
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little user-generated content, and open
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source was one of the triggers that led
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to these various movements. So in its
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time it was a radical invitation to
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openness and a radical invitation to
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participation. This engagement model
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served us astonishingly well. This model
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built the communities that built Firefox.
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This model allowed us to expand the set
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of people who could participate in
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creation dramatically. Our volunteer
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quality assurance teams came out of this
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era, our volunteer localization teams
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came out of this era, our regional and
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local communities that evangelized for
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better internet and for Mozilla and our
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products came from this model.
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And not too long after this day, the
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development of Firefox began in earnest
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and we began thinking about Firefox
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slightly differently. Especially the
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development team was very focused that
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Firefox would be consumer friendly and
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the design cases and use cases were all
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about an individual consumer and what
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would her experience be online. And so we
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evolved. And this was our second
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engagement model with the world. It was
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quite different. You'll notice it's much
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more consumer focused. It was our first
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step in putting the consumer, an
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individual person, at the heart of what
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we do. We took away— I should go back and
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say the literal-minded of you will say:
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“well, Mitchell, your first image was a web
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page and now you've got browser content".
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But I assure yo,u if you go back and look
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at Mozilla,org for the day of Firefox
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10 release, you will find a similar
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shift in focus to consumer friendly. We
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took away all of the information and
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links about us, who we are, why we build,
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and the tools that allow us to do those
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things. And instead. we put a connection
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to the Internet. In those days search was
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new, it was incredibly exciting, and it
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was the connection. And so we took the
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experience that consumers wanted, and
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that would improve their lives and we
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put that at the center of our
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presentation to the world. Now, that was a
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dramatic change. It was a difficult
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change. It took us months. And we fought,
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we struggled. You know, the small team of
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15 or 20 people, and Mountain View, and
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the larger team remotely around the
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world to make this change. Because it is
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not a classic change from
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open-source organization to shift to
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consumer focus. The second thing that we
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did is behind that search box. We had had
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a search box in the early Firefox
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versions and the product before that, but
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we had never been paid for it. And so
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this puts a business relationship with
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revenue as the first thing people saw
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when they opened Firefox. Now that was a
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dramatic chang,e and also very difficult.
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With months of consideration and work
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and planning. And the comment I remember
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the most from a news article was loss of
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innocence. And I thought, well yes, and...
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Because we were convinced that something
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as complex and broad as a browser or
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access to the Internet needed full-time
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attention, needed a volunteer community
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as well but, at the core, we could not do
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this on a part-time all-volunteer basis.
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And so, we had been relying on charitable
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contributions and companies which
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somehow felt innocent out in the world.
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But it is not innocent. And relying on
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charitable contributions and fundraising
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for the size and scope and scale that we
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needed is not at all in a sense. And one
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of the things that the current
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foundation fundraising team remains
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quite excellent at is fundraising
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without allowing any of the donors or
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grantmakers to call the shots. That's a
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very rare and difficult thing. And so I
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felt, yes, loss of innocence, and that now
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there is actual money in the system, and
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this is the most direct most transparent
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and most scalable way to sustain the
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organization.
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And it ties our sustainability to the
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use of our product and its value to our
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users. So, we made it through that
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transition. And that of course, together,
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the focus on consumers and the ability
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to sustain ourselves made possible the
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size and scope and scale of what we have
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accomplished since then. And in that era,
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it was before the surveillance economy,
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Google was new, search was new, the ad
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system was rudimentary, and so at the
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time, it felt exceedingly aligned Search
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was an exciting piece and people loved it.
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Now that model has sustained us through a
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long and very rich period. Long
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development on Firefox development, on
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new products, from focus to Firefox Lite,
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to Firefox monitor, to all of the other
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work that you are engaged in. And it has
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given us a name, globally, of trust and
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allowed us to engage in a range of
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programs from new product development to
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the advocacy work that the foundation is
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doing. So that has been very successful
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and it is time to evolve again because
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these products are a bit one-dimensional.
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Mozilla creates a product. Let's say, I
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use that product. It is a tool for me. A
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tool where I might protect myself, I
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might wear some lines, my experience. You
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know, Mozilla and Firefox do a few things
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on the back end particularly related to
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security and malware problems, but much
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of the power of the tool is for me to
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use. And that's an important foundation
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that we should keep. But it is no longer
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enough.
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It is time to take the next step at
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putting an individual consumer at the
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center of everything we do. That's
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because it is a complicated world out
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there. If you get online even with a
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single phone, you have a browser, maybe
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two, maybe three. You have a world of apps,
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and each one of them is doing something.
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And all of them are in a sea of data. And
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my ability as a single human being to
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protect myself or customize my own
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experience or have impact and control
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over what happens to me is very limited.
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And even if we build a portfolio of 10
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or 20 great products, and they're all
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separate, and they all rely on me to
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somehow use those products to build the
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experience I'm looking for, that is
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asking too much of consumers. And so this
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era of putting people in the center
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requires more. It requires a relationship.
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And in the past, we've been very proud of
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the degree of anonymity we have with our
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users. That is an important foundation
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because anonymity is important in life.
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But today we need to add to that to
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actually have a relationship, a known
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relationship between Firefox and the
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person using it. And that relationship
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should cover multiple products multiple
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experiences and it must address the data
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problem. We live in a world of data. It is
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valuable. It is not going away .The
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problem is how it is handled. And
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traditionally at Mozilla, we like to take
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a hands-off approach and say we're not
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going to do anything with data because
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we don't want to make a mistake. It is
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time for that to change. Because who else
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in the world is going to help us? Who is
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going to help me or you or the people
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you care about, or the people we don't
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know elsewhere in the world navigate the
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sea of data?
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Who else will be a responsible steward
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of data?
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Who else can build and influence an
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ecosystem that acknowledges the value of
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data and applies it for your benefit or
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my benefit, but not the benefit of a few
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shareholders? Not many organizations in
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the world can do that. And we are here
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and we have the opportunity to do that.
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And so that is the next evolution in
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front of us. Now, this evolution is also
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not easy. We will experience a broad
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range of emotions,
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from fear to excitement, to deep anger
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and frustration when we make mistakes. To
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confidence that we can do something new
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and we can evolve again and stay true to
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the core of Mozilla, we evolved Firefox
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to be consumer focused. We are still open
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source and looking out for users we can
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evolve our relationship with people, so
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that we engage sometimes anonymously
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sometimes soon honestly, and sometimes in
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an identity based system. We will go
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onward. And as we do this, there are a few
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themes that we know we need to address.
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The first one, you are the product. This
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is unacceptable. This is an area that is
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directly in front of us that is closely
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tied to the products that we build and
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where we should become the advocate of
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individuals, both anonymously as we do
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today, and in a much closer way with an
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actual relationship. We know how to block
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trackers we know, how to be defensive.
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I want us to play offense.
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I want Mozilla products to help me go
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out in the world and make sure I am not
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the product and that my data is used in
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a way that makes sense to me. A second
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theme is content. And in part I mean
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pocket and content, But I mean it also
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more broadly like we rendered the web.
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The web is content and today it is hard
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to know what is real, what is lies and
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what is actually going on with content
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out there. We have types of expertise
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that need to be in this dialogue and
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that need to be building products to be
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experimenting with how do we fix this.
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And a third great theme it's the
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addiction economy. Because the product
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piece and the monetization piece get
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wrapped up in encouraging us to take
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actions that are profitable. And as a
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human being, very few of us alone are
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strong enough and aware enough and
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knowledgeable enough to understand the
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power of the AIs today, aimed at us
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pushing and pumping addictive behavior.
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The human psyche is prone to this, and so
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it will take technologists building and
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experimenting with different forms of
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interaction to build new ways of
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engaging with data and information. And
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as we address these things, people today
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are asking, you know the Internet is
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broken, what can I do. One part of that
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answer should be,
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get yourself a relationship with Mozilla,
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make it as deep as you want.
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Sign up, don't sign up. But you should
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have a relationship with Mozilla. That's
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where the tools are. That's where the
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products are that are trying to help you.
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That's where you can find better
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experiences and that's where you
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can help improve the internet as you
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improve your own experience. And if we do
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that, then we help everyone demand better
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of the Internet. And if we grow, the set
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of people who can demand better of the
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Internet and join together to experience
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better things as we build them, then this
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era of Mozilla and this style of
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engagement will be as rich and powerful
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and exciting and transformative as
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anything we can imagine. That is our
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challenge and our opportunity. Thank you.