\nTrust is a broader concept than security. Trust is essentially the idea that Mozilla has your back. Over time, we have made a set of decisions that not only protect your security on a day-to-day basis but also demonstrate that we are worthy of people\u2019s trust and show that we are a responsible company where you can have trust in our products and want to use them. We have a set of data privacy principles<\/a> to guide us, and you can have trust that if we collect your data we’re not going to abuse it.<\/p>\n
I read you have expertise in intelligence and counterterrorism. Can you tell me more about that?<\/b>
\nI spent roughly the first five years of my career in the CIA’s counterterrorism center. There’s a unique element to the job in the counterterrorism center where I got to support our operational work, helping to find members of al-Qaeda, for example, and understanding the threats that they posed. At the same time I would get to do things like write briefings for the president or actually brief the president, and do what we would describe as more analytic work. Overall it was an awesome experience. I really enjoyed my time there. It’s a pretty unique institution that I learned a lot from, where I was able to contribute to our security in a different way that I am today.<\/p>\n
Which president did you work with?<\/b>
\nMostly President Bush. I left the agency around the time that Obama was coming into office, so a few of my written briefings may have gone to President Obama, but the vast majority went to President Bush. And I once briefed President Bush verbally, which was a really unique and strange experience in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
Were you actually in the Oval Office?<\/b>
\nJust once. That briefing went well, but I don\u2019t have a very crisp memory of it because mostly I was in awe that I was in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n
What are you most excited about at Firefox right now?<\/b> What is one thing you do to protect yourself online?<\/b> Given your area of expertise, what do consider to be security issue that people should be thinking more about today?<\/b> Security aside, what is digital tool is essential to your daily life?<\/b> What are some favorites? How do you like to disconnect?<\/b> Ok, let\u2019s get to some rapid fire questions. What\u2019s a typical breakfast?<\/b> Cats or dogs?<\/b> Android or iOS?<\/b> Where do you get your news?<\/b> Walk, bike or drive?<\/b> Regarding books, do you go for audio, digital or print?<\/b> What\u2019s the last internet find you shared with someone?<\/b> When it comes to GIFs, hard or soft G?<\/b> What\u2019s something about yourself that people would be surprised to know?<\/b> What was your favorite event?<\/b> It was definitely the rings. I was \u201cthe ring guy\u201d through college. I was OK at the pommel horse, and I was really good at the rings.<\/p>\n ~ \u00a0\u00a0~\u00a0 ~ \u00a0\u00a0~<\/p>\n
\nRecently we’ve been talking about Firefox being a more opinionated browser, and what that’s going to mean in practice over the next year is releasing a bunch of really important privacy and security features that actively protect people from some of the malicious things that threaten them online. One that we’ve been public about and started testing last month is our Firefox Monitor<\/a> service, which will notify people when they’ve been implicated in a breach.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>There are plenty of things that we could all do, but the one tip that I tell everyone is to use a password manager. I use a password manager, and I think that overall the internet would be a more secure place if everyone used a password manager. I have my parents who are not technically sophisticated using a password manager, so that\u2019s always my first point of advice.<\/p>\n
\nI’ll tell you what I’ve been thinking about over the last year, and especially since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, is that the diversity of companies or parties that you interact with online everyday that are fundamentally not trustworthy but you trust them anyway. When I go online I’m not a fearful internet browser. I’m not paranoid, and I don’t encourage people to be paranoid or fearful when they go on the internet, but I do encourage people to really think and be explicit about what companies and parties they are engaging with and why they think they’re trustworthy. That is the ecosystem problem we face right now \u2014 that diversity of actors online who maybe you trust but you shouldn\u2019t and if you thought just a little more about why you are trusting them with your data or your security, you might be better off.<\/p>\n
\nPutting security entirely aside, the one thing I consistently use is my podcast app. I listen to national security or technology podcasts for an hour or two every day.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>The National Security Law<\/a> podcast or the Lawfare<\/a> podcast are two that I listen to regularly.<\/p>\n
\nI have two kids \u2014 a three year old and a one year old \u2014 so that\u2019s actually how I spend a lot of my time. But writing would be what I try to do. If I\u2019m really trying to disconnect, I write fiction. Short stories mostly. I have one draft novel sitting in my desk somewhere that I would love to get published at some point. It\u2019s about my time in the counterterrorism center in the mid-2000s.<\/p>\n
\nCoffee.<\/p>\n
\nDogs. I don\u2019t trust a lot of people online, and I don\u2019t trust people with cats.<\/p>\n
\niOS.<\/p>\n
\nOnline. The New York Times or Washington Post.<\/p>\n
\nWalk, typically, or drive if I really can\u2019t walk.<\/p>\n
\nTypically print, if I really want to disconnect. I process better with paper.<\/p>\n
\nI\u2019m not a big social tool person online. Every once in a while I\u2019ll read Twitter and tweet. I\u2019ve never been a Facebook user.<\/p>\n
\nIt\u2019s a hard G.<\/p>\n
\nI was a competitive gymnast from about age 10 to 25, first in the lower school, middle school and high school, then all the way through college and then a year after college.<\/p>\n
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