Cross-site tracking is now blocked by default for all clients in Firefox
According to Mozilla, all Firefox users will now have default protection from cross-site tracking when using the Internet.
Its because starting today, all Firefox users worldwide will be able to employ Mozilla’s Total Cookie Protection suite of privacy upgrades.
Total Cookie Protection prevents attempts to track you throughout the web and create browsing profiles by requiring all websites to retain their cookies in separate “jars.”
This privacy feature, which was first made available with the release of Firefox 86 in February 2021, was previously only available when users actively enabled ETP Strict Mode in the web browser’s settings or were using private browsing.
“Total Cookie Protection offers strong protections against tracking without affecting your browsing experience,” said Mozilla today.
“Total Cookie Protection is Firefox’s strongest privacy protection to date, confining cookies to the site where they were created, thus preventing tracking companies from using these cookies to track your browsing from site to site.”
Firefox will automatically stop any efforts to use cookies to trace individuals while they are browsing the web by setting up a different cookie jar for each page.
Ongoing conflict with ad-tech tracking attempts
The news made today emphasizes Mozilla’s ongoing battle against online monitoring initiatives by ad tech companies, which began in 2018 when it first unveiled the Enhanced Tracking Protection function.
One year later, Mozilla changed the default setting in Firefox to enable Enhanced Tracking Protection, which instantly disables cookies from well-known trackers.
Mozilla’s web browser began automatically disabling scripts used by organizations that perform browser fingerprinting via cross-site tracking after the release of Firefox 72 in January 2020.
Beginning with version 85 in January 2021, Firefox will also include super cookie protection, which prevents covert trackers from monitoring your online surfing activity.
With the introduction of Total Cookie Protection, Mozilla is now able to block attempts at cross-site tracking for more than 211 million active monthly users and 3,26% of all browser market share globally.