This is exactly the data a modern Cambridge Analytica would want (e.g. shares, time spent on each post, all correlated to demographics). I hope this platform has controls to ensure that study data isn't misused post-study for non-study purposes, because the FAQ answer isn't so encouraging[0].
"With Mozilla’s permission, researchers may retain aggregated or de-identified datasets for their analyses. Mozilla may also retain aggregated data sets which we may release in the public good to foster an open web."
Shouldn't you ask the users for permission on using their aggregate data for purposes that could be different to the study they enrolled to?
>They do, given that you’d have been informed of that before you provided your consent by opting in to Rally data crowdsourcing.
I haven't tried registering for the study, but I note that an FAQ answer is not enough. Users cannot be expected to search for the FAQ. This needs to be mentioned in the consent form, and not done implicitly 'by opting in' like corporations do.
>Kind of nice that it’d be in the hands of Mozilla, Princeton University, other trusted research partners, and the open web, isn’t it?
The 'open web' is a bit of a nebulous concept, and the CA data was supposedly in the hands of a data scientist at the University of Cambridge.
> It'd be much better to not collect that data at all.
That may not be possible to enforce without shuttering the entire computer networking infrastructure of the world and rebuilding it on new computer science foundations.
[0] https://rally.mozilla.org/how-rally-works/faqs/#what-happens...
"With Mozilla’s permission, researchers may retain aggregated or de-identified datasets for their analyses. Mozilla may also retain aggregated data sets which we may release in the public good to foster an open web."
Shouldn't you ask the users for permission on using their aggregate data for purposes that could be different to the study they enrolled to?