With Mark Zuckerberg testifying in front of Congress today, we can expect lots of rhetoric. We have a privacy problem that is bigger than Facebook. There is real value in the platform that I don’t want to walk away from, yet I also do not want to keep unwittingly feeding data to a company that has demonstrated that it doesn’t protect it. I do not believe Facebook has been naïve, but I also believe that the mess they are in is not part of a clever strategy.

I was delighted to see Firefox announce an addon designed to limit Facebook data collection.

“Facebook Container isolates your Facebook identity from the rest of your web activity. When you install it, you will continue to be able to use Facebook normally. Facebook can continue to deliver their service to you and send you advertising. The difference is that it will be much harder for Facebook to use your activity collected off Facebook to send you ads and other targeted messages.” (Firefox description of plugin)

I think that is how most people expect things to work. I have used Firefox as my main browser for years. Its performance has always been fine, and having a nonprofit company in the browser wars always felt a little bit like Switzerland to me.

You can download the Facebook Container browser addon here.