Recently, Mozilla has announced a decision to end its collaboration with ONEREP, a company that was developing a centralized system for removing personal data. This service formed the foundation of the Mozilla Monitor Plus product, which aimed to enhance the capabilities of the existing Mozilla Monitor in Firefox for tracking data breaches.
The reason behind this decision stems from the discovery of the founder of ONEREP, Dmitry Shelest’s ties to networks involved in the search and sale of users’ personal information. Prior to establishing ONEREP, Shelest was involved in creating systems for collecting and trading personal data, as well as developing sites for SEO optimization. Additionally, he is a co-founder of the current project Nuwber, which aggregates publicly available personal information and sells reports on individuals.
In a statement, Dmitry Shelest acknowledged his previous involvement in systems for collecting and selling personal data, some of which are still operational today. However, he claimed to have shifted his focus solely to addressing issues related to information security. Shelest believes that his past experience in creating services that search for personal data is beneficial for ONEREP, as it enables the development of effective solutions to combat data leaks.
Although Shelest confirmed his ownership stake in Nuwber, he emphasized that the operations of the brokerage firm do not intersect with ONEREP, and there is no exchange of data between the two entities. He also denied any involvement in the spam project, Spamit.
Earlier this year, Mozilla launched the paid service Monitor Plus, based on ONEREP, to monitor potential attempts to sell user data and automatically send deletion requests. The service aims to enhance data privacy protection for users.