Wednesday, December 11th 2024
Firefox Ditches 'Do Not Track' Feature in Version 135 in Favor of 'Global Privacy Control'
Mozilla says that "many sites do not respect" Do Not Track requests, as they rely on voluntary compliance, adding that the feature may actually harm user privacy—likely alluding to the fact that it makes it easier for sites to fingerprint and track you. As such, as of Firefox version 135, Mozilla will disable the Do Not Track feature. As a replacement for the feature, Mozilla recommends using the more advanced "Tell websites not to sell or share my data" toggle built into Global Privacy Control, which it says is more widely respected and backed by law in some regions.
This is also just the latest in a long line of changes to both Firefox and web privacy, at large. For one, Google recently completely removed third-party cookies from its Chrome browser—a move it claims is in support of user privacy but has been widely criticized for putting Google in something of a monopoly position when it comes to tracking the data of Chrome users. Overall, the community feedback on Reddit seems to be either positive or indifferent, although one criticism of the new reliance on Global Privacy Control is that GPC doesn't block Google Analytics tracking requests, although the reasoning behind leaving Google Analytics in-tact is that many sites don't function correctly when it is blocked or disabled.
Sources:
Mozilla Support, Global Privacy Control
This is also just the latest in a long line of changes to both Firefox and web privacy, at large. For one, Google recently completely removed third-party cookies from its Chrome browser—a move it claims is in support of user privacy but has been widely criticized for putting Google in something of a monopoly position when it comes to tracking the data of Chrome users. Overall, the community feedback on Reddit seems to be either positive or indifferent, although one criticism of the new reliance on Global Privacy Control is that GPC doesn't block Google Analytics tracking requests, although the reasoning behind leaving Google Analytics in-tact is that many sites don't function correctly when it is blocked or disabled.
Global Privacy Control (GPC) is a proposed specification designed to allow Internet users to notify businesses of their privacy preferences, such as whether or not they want their personal information to be sold or shared. It consists of a setting or extension in the user's browser or mobile device and acts as a mechanism that websites can use to indicate they support the specification.Essentially, GPC in Firefox tells the websites you visit "not to sell or share information about your browsing session on that website," although, notably, it doesn't appear to prohibit the collection of browsing data. According to Mozilla's support page about GPC, certain US states—California, Colorado, and Connecticut are called out specifically—mandate that GPC also be treated as a Do Not Track request, and in other areas, like the EU, UK, Nevada, Utah, and Virginia, GPC grants additional benefits on top of DNT, including opting out of targeted ads and sale of personal data.
35 Comments on Firefox Ditches 'Do Not Track' Feature in Version 135 in Favor of 'Global Privacy Control'
Let's say I use enough tabs to find out.
I nuke everything many times a day. :D
Overall, this doesn't surprise me, hopefully it is a positive. I'm worried that Mozilla is just slowly dying. Chromium browsers will rule unopposed, yeah, I know I'm partially responsible.
Brave will eventually have to move to v3 btw, they can delay it for awhile sure, but eventually their adblocking will suffer because of the v3 chromimum update
So basically 6GiB for a 370€ notebook without windows license. Just checked a few hours ago.
Most laptops have soldered components. There is no upgrade option for the dram.
-- Fennec from fdroid works well on my android tablet.
f-droid.org/packages/org.mozilla.fennec_fdroid/