Mozilla is introducing a new subscription service today that will help people identify and remove their personal and sensitive information from data broker sites on the Web. This includes the ability to remove your phone number, email, home address and other information that is exposed on data broker sites and sold for profit, the company says.
The new subscription service is offered as part of it Mozilla screen (formerly Firefox Monitor), originally a free service that alerts you when your email is part of a data breach. The newly added and optional subscription, Monitor Plus, will allow over 10 million existing Mozilla Monitor users to run scans to see if their personal information has been compromised, and then provide users with tools to help them become this information private.
Currently, the process of removing information from data broker sites can be complicated and confusing. Most sites have an opt-out page where you can fill out a form to request that your information be removed, or you can contact the broker directly to request it. However, people often don’t know who has their information or how to go about removing it once they find it online.
Image Credits: Mozilla
Mozilla Monitor aims to facilitate this process by proactively searching 190 data broker websites known to sell individuals’ personal and private information. If it discovers data you’ve provided to Mozilla — such as your name, location, and date of birth — on any of these sites, it will initiate a takedown request on your behalf. The process can take a day or up to a month, Mozilla notes. This feature is part of the new $13.99 per month Monitor Plus subscription, which drops to $8.99 per month if you purchase an annual subscription ($107.88 / year).
Free users will instead have the option of a one-time scan of data broker sites, but will have to follow the steps to remove their information manually. This could potentially help drive sales on the new subscription service as it offers automatic deductions for this otherwise laborious process. Both free and paid users will also continue to receive notifications about data breaches, as before, and be offered tools to fix those high-risk breaches.
“When we launched Monitor, our goal was to help people discover where their personal information may have been exposed. Now, with Monitor Plus, we’re going to help people get their exposed data back from data brokerage sites that are trying to sell it,” Tony Amaral-Cinotto, Mozilla Monitor Product Manager at Mozilla, explained in a release announcement. “Our long-standing commitment to putting people’s needs first and our easy step-by-step process make Monitor Plus unique. In addition, we combine breach notifications and data broker removal to offer an all-in-one protection tool and make it easier for people to feel and be safe online,” he added.
To initiate a scan, users provide Mozilla with their first and last name, current city and state, date of birth, and email. This information is encrypted and follows Mozilla Privacy Policy. Using this information, Mozilla runs a scan that shows you where your personal information is being exposed, including through data breaches and proxy sites. The company notes that 233 million people were affected by data breaches only in 2023, making such a tool a necessity these days.
Mozilla Monitor Plus subscribers will benefit from monthly scans and automatic removals. The free and paid scanning service will initially be offered to users in the US only, the company says.
