Mozilla announced[1] plans today to test a possible partnership with ProtonVPN in the hopes of securing a future revenue stream.
Starting Wednesday, October 25, Mozilla plans to select a small number of Firefox users and show them an ad to purchase a monthly subscription to ProtonVPN.
Only US-based Firefox users on the latest Firefox 62 for desktop versions (Windows, Mac, and Linux) are eligible. The experiment will be time-limited and Mozilla will assess its success before expanding it to its global userbase.
The ad will be displayed inside a doorhanger-type popup in the right corner of the Firefox browser when users are connected to an unsecure public WiFi network.
Users who click the ad will be redirected to a secure page where they can purchase a monthly subscription for the ProtonVPN service for $10.
Payments will be handled via Stripe and Recurly. Mozilla says that a portion of the proceeds will go to ProtonVPN for operating costs, while they'll keep the rest.
"Even though Mozilla will process these subscriptions, users who subscribe to the service through Mozilla will still receive the exact same software and benefits that come with our ProtonVPN Plus subscription," ProtonVPN said today in a blog post[2]. The ProtonVPN Plus plan costs $8 on ProtonVPN's site[3], but users buying it from Mozilla's site will have the moral satisfaction that they've helped Firefox keep afloat.
"The Mozilla and ProtonVPN partnership is an experiment in finding new ways to keep Internet users safe while simultaneously ensuring that open source and non-profit software development gets the resources that it deserves," ProtonVPN added.
But experiment or not, ProtonVPN also stands to make a lot of money if Mozilla is satisfied