Mozilla Firefox To Stop Advertisers And Websites From Tracking You

Saanvi Araav - Jun 19, 2019

After a long time updating its protections for user's privacy, now Firefox has made a new move to block all third-party website cookies

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After a long time updating its protections for user's privacy, now Firefox has made a new move to block all website cookies which could potentially let publishers and advertisers track you on the web.

Cookies are those text files that sites store right on your browser ( there are two types: 1st party cookies from the website's operator; or 3rd party cookies from advertising and analytics firms). From now on, Mozilla will block these 3rd party cookies with a feature on Firefox.

Firefox-block-Cookies — Mozilla will block the 3rd party cookies with a feature on Firefox

In the last couple of years, there have been many privacy problems like Cambridge Analytica and data breaches that affected many users. Controlling the cookies in your browser couldn't fix it all, but it can help by preventing companies from tracking you on the web.

This move of Mozilla has marked a new effort from browser makers of becoming more assertive with their products. Long ago, there was "Do Not Track" technology that allows customers to tell websites not to track their web behavior. But the advertising companies have shot it down. Today, browser makers are making this move on their own.

Tracker Blocking Standard For Browsers

Mozilla has allowed its users to block web tracking since 2017, but it was not the first one to have this feature. Apple has been blocking third-party cookies on Safari for ages. Recently, they also added in a smart tracking prevention feature as well. Rical also prevents 3rd party cookies on its browser - Brave. Even the dominant Chrome of Google has started rein in the cookies.

Apple-safari-third-party-cookies — Apple has been blocking 3rd party cookies on Safari for ages

All new Firefox's versions will come installed with tracker blocking by default, according to Mozilla. If you have had it already, then Firefox will turn on the blocking automatically in the next few months. You could also disable this feature or choose different blocking levels of your liking since it might sometimes cause websites problems.

Aside from cookies, companies also use another technique called fingerprinting to track you on the web. However, the browser makers are working on cutting this technique down too.

The War For Privacy

Browser makers see this "privacy war" as a feature to compete against Chrome.

John Wilander, an engineer who has worked on the smart tracking prevention of Safari, commented in 2017 that privacy would be the battlefield where different browsers complete. He also saw Edge and Firefox as allies in this war.

Marcos Cáceres ( an engineer of Mozilla ) also tweeted aim at Facebook and Google implied that there is a future war about tracking, targeted ads, and user privacy between browsers.

Google and Facebook haven't replied to request for comment yet.