This is an example of where openness — which Mozilla used to excel at — would have helped.
If there was a detailed rationale considering the potential privacy impact of this change, publicly available, then we'd be able to see that Mozilla did indeed thoughtfully weigh up the consequences of doing this.
We may disagree with the decision, but at least we'd be able to see the set of underlying assumptions and point to which one we think is wrong, and perhaps provide evidence to show it's mistaken — constructive feedback.
But as it is, we just have an opaque assertion that “this is fine”.
If there was a detailed rationale considering the potential privacy impact of this change, publicly available, then we'd be able to see that Mozilla did indeed thoughtfully weigh up the consequences of doing this.
We may disagree with the decision, but at least we'd be able to see the set of underlying assumptions and point to which one we think is wrong, and perhaps provide evidence to show it's mistaken — constructive feedback.
But as it is, we just have an opaque assertion that “this is fine”.