Eh, I'm not so sure it's "well done." They should comply with local laws and perhaps respond by making it easy to add your own addon repo or sideload addons.
What impact? You mean having Russians use a browser that allows the state to spy on them? If someone goes to prison for using Firefox to post something critical of the government, is that the impact Mozilla wants to have?
At a certain point you have to say "if the government of an authoritarian makes it illegal to use our browser because we aren't going along with them spying on their citizens then so be it."
It's debatable at what point a software company becomes morally complicit with the oppression done by an authoritarian government. But it seems to me the wisest choice is to say "this is our software, take it or leave it."
Yes, there certainly is a point, and removing 3 add-ons from the default add-on store isn't that point. They should instead make more ways for people to get those add-ons (e.g. separate add-on repos and easier side-loading) instead of just forcing the government to block them.
Getting Firefox blocked doesn't accomplish anything other than a one-time publicity stunt, which will probably get censored anyway. If they don't have many users in Russia anyway, maybe that's worth doing to get more exposure in other markets. But if the goal is to help Russians, I don't see how this helps.
Idk, I think an addon store is different. Some regions could restrict certain types of addons (e.g. porn, gambling, crypto, language support, etc), and that should be fine. They shouldn't compromise on core Firefox features, but I think region-gating extensions is fine, provided they have a way to side-load extensions.
To my knowledge Firefox / Mozilla does not have an office in Russia. And even if they had, the argument can be made that unlawful / authoritarian laws by any ethical perspective have to be fought against.
Sure, but you have to weigh the pros and cons. This request seems benign enough that Mozilla shouldn't be limited in delivering on its mission in Russia by following it, but they would certainly would be limited if they're completely blocked.
If Russia asks Mozilla to do something that compromises their core mission, that's the time to refuse.
Eh... an organization will generally just comply with any law at first. Senior leadership would have to approve of not conforming to a law, so there would be meetings and deliberations on it. Considerations need to made about the safety of the employees and that kind of thing.
The extensions were only blocked for a week. So it's not fair to claim Mozilla was licking Russia's boot.