Bonum Certa Men Certa

Mozilla's Strategy: More Lawyers and Spam, Not More Engineers

They send me stuff before even asking me if I accept an embargo (I do not; we reject NDAs and information embargoes from greedy corporations)

moz-spam

Summary: Mozilla has been contacting a load of people, asking them to generate inane hype over a useless hire by a notoriously wasteful CEO

They're hiring lawyers from firms that attack programmers, just like they hire managers from Facebook while they promise us privacy:

Hi Roy,

Hope you’re well. I am writing with embargoed news for Monday, September 12, 2022 @ 9:00 a.m. ET to give you a heads up that Mozilla has hired a new Chief Legal Officer:

Carlos Torres will lead Mozilla’s global legal and public policy teams, developing legal, regulatory and policy strategies that support Mozilla's mission. He will also manage all regulatory issues and serve as a strategic business partner helping Mozilla accelerate its growth and evolution.

Carlos comes to Mozilla from Flashbots where he led the company’s legal and strategic initiatives. Prior to that, he was General Counsel for two start-ups and spent over a decade at Salesforce in a variety of leadership roles including VP, Business Development and Strategic Alliances and VP, Associate General Counsel, Chief of Staff. He also served as senior counsel of a biotech company and started his legal career at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Let me know if you’d be interested in mentioning this in your newsletter on Monday? For your convenience, here is a link to our blog with the announcement (Note: the blog post will go live when the embargo lifts on Monday). I’ve also shared a draft of the announcement below. Thanks,

Cherie




DRAFT UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 9 am ET 9/12

Announcing Carlos Torres, Mozilla’s new Chief Legal Officer

Mitchell Baker

I am pleased to announce that starting today, September 12, Carlos Torres has joined Mozilla as our Chief Legal Officer. In this role Carlos will be responsible for leading our global legal and public policy teams, developing legal, regulatory and policy strategies that support Mozilla's mission. He will also manage all regulatory issues and serve as a strategic business partner helping us accelerate our growth and evolution. Carlos will also serve as Corporate Secretary. He will report to me and join our steering committee.

Carlos stood out in the interview process because of his great breadth of experience across many topics including strategic and commercial agreements, product, privacy, IP, employment, board matters, investments, regulatory and litigation. He brings experience in both large and small companies, and in organizations with different risk profiles as well as a deep belief in Mozilla’s commitment to innovation and to an open internet.

“Mozilla continues to be a unique and respected voice in technology, in a world that needs trusted institutions more than ever," said Torres. "There is no other organization that combines community, product, technology and advocacy to produce trusted innovative products that people love. I've always admired Mozilla for its principled, people-focused approach and I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to Mozilla's mission and evolution."

Carlos comes to us most recently from Flashbots where he led the company’s legal and strategic initiatives. Prior to that, he was General Counsel for two start ups and spent over a decade at Salesforce in a variety of leadership roles including VP, Business Development and Strategic Alliances and VP, Associate General Counsel, Chief of Staff. He also served as senior counsel of a biotech company and started his legal career at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

-- Cherie Crosby

she/her/hers 518.321.2144

cherie.crosby@berlinrosen.com


It's worth noting that the email itself contained surveillance; Mozilla Thunderbird warned about it. So the PR firm chosen by Mozilla is spying. This is where Mozilla's money goes.

"Notice that their links is to AWS and not to Mozilla," an associate noted. "More can be said about the embargo or lack thereof."

I never spoke to Mozilla, so they're clearly mass-mailing hundreds if not thousands of people with this (without following the correct protocol; you must first verify an embargo is accepted by the recipient).

Only they know the extent of the distribution and notice the screenshot at the top. Even Mozilla's own email client does not like it.

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