Page 24 - ARUBA TODAY

A24 TECHNOLOGY
Tuesday 29 May 2018
Insider Q&A: Mozilla exec says to demand better internet

By MATT O’BRIEN Q: What do you think of They had the newest gen-
AP Technology Writer Europe’s new, stricter data eration of technology, and
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — rules? it showed. Once you’ve
The manifesto Mitchell Bak- A: As a signal that some set got a product out, it’s hard
er wrote for the free soft- of societies will take action, to change something so
ware community Mozilla they’re extremely helpful. deep in the guts. But we
declared the internet to be The options are to do noth- found a way to do it.
a global public resource ing and hope that things As of November, with our
and privacy a fundamen- resolve themselves. Or take Firefox Quantum release,
tal right that “must not be action, as the European we have the technical
treated as optional.” Union has, knowing that crown again. It’s not easy
Twenty years later, as ex- some things will work and to reach consumers about
ecutive chairwoman and others won’t, but that we it because you get used to
“chief lizard wrangler” of must take a stand as a so- the browsers you’re using,
the Mozilla Foundation, ciety that the current path but we do have some re-
Baker says she’s on a mis- of commercial enterprise is action.
sion to reassert those prin- unacceptable. Q: What’s Mozilla’s ap-
ciples and update them for Q: What data does Mozilla proach to virtual reality
an era when online priva- have? and augmented reality?
cy, rational discourse and A: For many years we tried A: Our vision is that thing we
verifiable information seem to collect absolutely noth- used to call the web. Send
elusive. She’s also working ing, thinking that was the a link, and anyone can
to refresh interest in Mozil- best way to ensure privacy click on that.
la’s flagship product, the and security. We shifted That seems obvious. But
Firefox browser. in the last few years. But that’s not how AR and
Baker spoke with The As- the spirit of the (EU) law, VR are today, where you
sociated Press on the side- Mozilla’s always been try- have to pick (a system). If
lines of MIT’s Solve confer- In this May 14, 2018, file photo, Mitchell Baker attends the 22nd ing to meet. The data we I want to see that content,
ence. Questions and com- Annual Webby Awards at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. do have is mostly about I have to move to the next
ments have been edited Associated Press our own product. We don’t closed system. We’re trying
for length and clarity. time Achievement Award? what’s in the air right now sell it. We’re not monetizing to make it interoperable so
Q: How did you come up A: I thought of one that was — how the internet can against it. developers really have a
with “Demand better of wildly aspirational — “glob- amplify good things but Q: How is Firefox doing? chance to do something
the internet” as your five- al, safe, trustworthy, open also anti-social behavior. I A: There’s no question that new and consumers like us
word acceptance speech internet”— but felt that thought it would be good for a few years, (Google) can find and see what we
for the Webby Awards’ Life- didn’t capture some of to acknowledge that. Chrome has beaten us. want.q

Germany gives Daimler deadline to submit fix for diesel vans

BERLIN (AP) — German Dieter Zetsche was sum- Benz Vito delivery vans
authorities are giving au- moned to the transport last week after Germany’s
tomaker Daimler until mid- ministry on Monday, the motor vehicle authority
June to submit a plan for latest instance of a Ger- concluded the vans used
how it will fix diesel-pow- man auto executive being a so-called defeat device
ered vans that don’t meet grilled over excessive emis- to skirt emissions limits. The
emissions requirements. sions in diesel vehicles . company said it disagreed
The announcement came Daimler was ordered to re- with authorities’ assess-
after Daimler chairman call over 6,000 Mercedes- ment, but would prepare
software updates for the
vehicles’ engine control
systems and carry out the
updates at no cost to ve-
hicle owners. Andreas Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche arrives at the German transport min-
Scheuer, Germany’s trans- istry in Berlin Monday, May 28, 2018 where he had be summoned
port minister, said he plans by German transportation Minister Andreas Scheuer after Ger-
to have another meeting man authorities ruled that the Mercedes-Benz Vito delivery
with Zetsche in two weeks. van’s diesel emissions controls do not meet legal requirements.
The motor vehicle author- Associated Press
ity set a June 15 deadline older diesel cars face the Svenja Schulze argues that
for Daimler to produce a prospect of driving bans software updates won’t be
“technical solution and its in some cities as part of ef- enough to comply with Eu-
implementation.” Daimler’s forts to combat air pollu- ropean air quality rules.
troubles are the latest in a tion. A federal court ruled Schulze suggested in an
string of issues to affect die- in February that cities can interview Monday with the
sel-powered vehicles since ban diesels, and Hamburg daily Die Welt that cars
it emerged in 2015 that will become the first to im- could be overhauled step
German rival Volkswagen pose such restrictions later by step, starting “where
had fitted cars with illegal this week, banishing them there is a threat of driving
software used to cheat on from two streets. Scheuer bans and people are par-
U.S. diesel emissions tests. says this is unnecessary, ticularly affected by bad
In Germany, drivers of but Environment Minister air.”q