Pocket was an unnecessary acquisition that wasted money for an opt-out solution to... I don't even know what problem. The money spent on acquiring it could've gone into more developers, technical writers, testers, etc. Clickz (or however it's written) was also an unnecessary fail investment.
Edit: Also, you understand incorrectly about safe browsing. It does its checks locally.
And even if Safe Browsing does do what you say, the other google stuff still does and did exist.
Even if you're backing down from that statement, why should it be an extension? why should they remove a popular feature and source of income just because you don't like it?
Yes Firefox will perform Google searches or location requests if you ask it to. It doesn't if you don't.
I'm not going to consider affirming bad leadership by giving them money. Mozilla Corp employees aren't locked into anything (unless they signed really shitty contracts). They can leave and rebuild.
Servo might finally provide the foundation for a browser that really is about privacy and not just a cash-cow for a bloated upper echelon.