Mozilla has today started implementing Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) 2.0 in Firefox. While the company technically introduced Firefox 79 for Windows, Mac and Linux last week, it only unveiled its flagship feature today. Firefox 79 blocks tracking of default redirects, also known as bounce tracking, and adds a handful of new features to developers. You can download Firefox 79 for PC right now from Firefox.com, and all existing users deserve to be able to update it automatically. According to Mozilla, Firefox has about 250 million active users, making it a primary platform for Internet developers.
While Google and Microsoft had to adjust their respective browser launch schedules due to the coronavirus pandemic, in April, Mozilla pledged to comply with its Firefox 2020 release schedule and the browser’s four-week release schedule. Although the schedule remains unchanged, Mozilla has changed its roadmap to avoid sending settings that can have a negative effect on government internet sites and fitness facilities and to address video conferencing issues.
Before diving into Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0, which will be rolled out over the next two weeks to protect against redirection tracking, it’s vital to read about the foundations on which it is based. For more than two years, Mozilla has strengthened Firefox’s privacy efforts. Other browser brands have made similar progress. While this is a victory for browser users, the online advertising industry and corporations that rely on it will have to look for alternatives.
In October 2018, Firefox 63 arrived with enhanced tracking protection, cookie blocking, and third-party crawler storage. Firefox 65, released in January 2019, has added content blocking controls with 3 features to block:
Firefox 69 arrived in September with improved coverage as opposed to default enabled tracking and default blocked encryption. Firefox 70 followed in October with tracking cookies between sites from sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn that blocked standard settings. Firefox 72 arrived in January with fingerprints locked by default.
Since activating enhanced coverage as opposed to the default tracking, Mozilla claims to have blocked 3.4 billion tracking cookies. But the company points out that since then the advertising industry has created alternative solutions and new tactics to gather the user’s knowledge when browsing the web.
The redirect tracking goes through Firefox’s built-in third-party cookie blocking policy by moving the user through the crawler before directing them to the desired web. This allows the tracker to see where it’s coming from and where it’s headed. Here’s how Mozilla explains it:
Assume that you browse an online product evaluation page and click on a link to buy a pair of shoes from an online retailer. Seconds later, Firefox accesses the retailer’s online page and loads the product page. Nothing goes out of place, however, the scenes, have tracked you using redirect tracking. Here’s how it happened:
Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0 attempts this factor by verifying whether cookies and site knowledge of those trackers deserve to be removed. The feature prevents known trackers from accessing your data by deleting your cookies and site knowledge every 24 hours. Because you look like a new user the next time you stop at the crawler (after 24 hours), you can’t create a long-term profile of your business.
To be clear, Firefox tries not to delete cookies from the people it interacts with, such as search engines, social media, and your email account. The browser leaves the sites you have interacted with in the last forty-five days, even if they are crawlers. The hope is that you stay connected to the sites where you stop, but you won’t be tracked indefinitely on sites you’ve only visited once.
Firefox 79 also brings some features for developers, adding shared reminiscence return, a new Promise method, more secure target-_blank bindings, and logical mapping operators. Firefox DevTools has also acquired JavaScript debugging and logging features, such as asynchronous battery tracks everywhere, increased debugging of erroneous network responses, debugging code errors, restarting the framework in the call stack, and improved functionality. If you’re an Internet developer, check out the main points here: Firefox 79 for developers.
For a complete overview, here is the Firefox 79 desktop log: