Mozilla recently announced their decision to terminate their partnership with Onerep, a company that provided a service for the centralized removal of personal data. This service was the basis for Mozilla Monitor Plus, which enhanced the existing features in Firefox Mozilla Monitor systems. The decision to cut ties with Onerep was made after it was discovered that the founder of Onerep was connected to networks involved in the search and sale of personal data. In the past, the founder of Onerep was involved in creating networks for collecting and selling personal data, as well as SEO-optimization sites. Additionally, the founder is also a co-founder of Nuwber, a project that aggregates personal information and sells reports about individuals.
Dmitry Shelest, the creator and head of Onerep, openly admitted that he had previously been involved in systems for collecting and selling personal data, some of which are still active today. However, he stated that he has now shifted his focus solely to addressing information protection issues. Shelest believes that his past experience in creating services for personal data collection is a strength for Onerep, as it allows them to effectively develop solutions to prevent information leakage.
Shelest also disclosed that he has a stake in Nuwber, a data broker company, but emphasized that Nuwber and Onerep do not share information or overlap. Onerep operates as an independent private company that does not engage in data selling. While there have been mentions of Shelest’s connection to the Spamit project, he clarified that he has no affiliation with Spamit.
In February, Mozilla integrated the paid service Mozilla Monitor Plus, which used Onerep to track attempts to sell personal data and automatically request the deletion of user information from sites attempting to sell personal data. The service has now been discontinued by Mozilla.