Mozilla marks 20th anniversary with commitment to better human experiences online

This coming Saturday — March 31 — is Mozilla’s 20th anniversary. We’ve accomplished a fair amount in the first 20 years. We aim to accomplish even more in the next 20 years. To do this, we’ve modernized nearly every aspect of Mozilla, from Firefox to the many ways we connect people and technology.

We’re making our first major addition to the key principles that form the foundation for Mozilla’s work. These principles are set out in the Mozilla Manifesto, which was launched in 2007. The Mozilla Manifesto identifies ten principles that we work to build into Firefox and online life generally. The internet should be a global public resource, open and accessible to all. Individuals should have control of their experience. Safety is critical. Private commercial profit and social benefit should coexist in a healthy fashion. We use these principles regularly to describe Mozilla’s identity and inform our decision-making. You can see the Manifesto here.

Today we add four topics to the Mozilla Manifesto. We do this to explicitly address the quality of people’s experiences online.

  • We are committed to an internet that includes all the peoples of the earth — where a person’s demographic characteristics do not determine their online access, opportunities, or quality of experience.
  • We are committed to an internet that promotes civil discourse, human dignity, and individual expression.
  • We are committed to an internet that elevates critical thinking, reasoned argument, shared knowledge, and verifiable facts.
  • We are committed to an internet that catalyzes collaboration among diverse communities working together for the common good.

The full addendum is available on our website, where you are invited to share your support for these new principles via Twitter.

The Manifesto and the addendum will continue to guide our work everyday — how we design products, build technology, build communities and work with others. We hope to encourage, create, lead and support many experiments in bringing these goals to life, and we hope to join with many others pursuing similar ideas.


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