Last Updated on 03/09/2019 by TDH Publishing (A)
According to today’s release, Enhanced Tracking Protection will be turned on automatically by default for all users worldwide as part of the ‘Standard’ setting in the Firefox browser.
Reportedly, the browser will also block known third-party tracking cookies as per the Disconnect List. This feature was first enabled only for new users in June 2019.
Presently over 20% of Firefox users have Enhanced Tracking Protection switched on. With today’s release, it is expected to offer protection for all the users by default. Enhanced Tracking Protection functions behind-the-scenes to keep a company from forming a profile of a user based on the tracking of his browsing behavior across websites — often without one’s knowledge or permission. Those profiles and the details they consist of may then be sold and used for purposes users never knew or intended. Enhanced Tracking Protection helps to mitigate this threat and puts users back in control of their online experience.
Users will realize when Enhanced Tracking Protection is functioning when they visit a site and see a shield icon in the address bar:
When one sees the shield icon, he should feel safe since Firefox is blocking thousands of companies from his online activity.
For those who wish to see which companies get blocked, they can click on the shield icon, go to the Content Blocking section, then Cookies. It should read Blocking Tracking Cookies. Then, click on the arrow on the right-hand side, and the companies listed as third-party cookies that Firefox has blocked will be seen:
If one wishes to turn off blocking for a specific site, then a click on the Turn off Blocking for this Site button would do the needful.
Cookies are not the only entities that follow us around on the web, trying to use what’s ours without our knowledge or consent. For example, Cryptominers access our computer’s CPU, ultimately slowing it down and draining the battery to generate cryptocurrency for someone else’s advantage. The option to block cryptominers in previous versions of Firefox Nightly and Beta are also introduced, and it is included in the ‘Standard Mode‘ of Content Blocking preferences as of now.
