Following Google’s privacy setting updates last month, Mozilla has announced some new privacy setting updates for its website browser, Firefox. Most notably, it is making its Enhanced Tracking Protection available by default, which will block third-party trackers going forward.
Users that install and download Firefox for the first time will now have this feature set automatically as part of the ‘Standard’ setting in the browser and will block known “third-party tracking cookies” according to the Disconnect list. Existing users can turn this feature on by selecting ‘Block Third-Party Trackers’ in their privacy settings.
According to Mozilla’s statement, the feature will stop thousands of companies from tracking and accessing users’ personal data.
“Over the past year, we’ve seen tech companies talk a big game about privacy in response to several global scandals, which have left people feeling increasingly vulnerable. It’s unfortunate that this shift had to happen in order for tech companies to take notice,” said David Camp, senior VP of Firefox.
Blocking Facebook trackers
Firefox also announced further privacy upgrades, such as its Facebook Container, an extension that works by isolating Facebook from the rest of a users’ web activity. As of now, the Facebook Container will prevent sites that have embedded Facebook capabilities on their site (such as the Share and Like buttons) from tracking users. These buttons and all connection to Facebook’s servers will be blocked, so the social media platform won’t be able to track user visits. This will also prevent Facebook from building shadow profiles of non-Facebook users.
Other features updated include a password manager known as Lockwise, which will allow users to easily manage and interact with their stored passwords in Firefox and its dashboard Firefox Monitor to help users track and manage multiple email addresses. Through the breach dashboard, users will receive a quick summary of updates for all registered email accounts so they can easily identify which emails are being monitored, how many known data breaches may have exposed their information, and specifically if any passwords have been leaked across those breaches.
“At Firefox, we believe that in order to truly protect people, we need to establish a new standard that puts people’s privacy first. We have been working on setting this standard by offering privacy-related features long before these issues were brought to light. We are more committed than ever to building stronger online protections for everyone, and these new Firefox features are indicative of our dedication to helping people stay safe whenever they use Firefox,” said Camp.