Mozilla gives another good reason to ditch Chrome for Firefox
What's the story
Just like Apple, Mozilla is also making privacy its calling card to take on Google. The corporation recently introduced several privacy-focused features into Firefox, and now, as part of the same effort, it is adding the ability to block trackers on websites. The move, it says, will keep advertisers and companies from tracking your online activity. Here's all about it.
Online tracking
Websites track activity of visitors
In case you don't know, website owners, analytics companies, and advertisers put trackers/cookies on web pages to monitor the online activity of visitors. They collect a range of information using this practice, starting from your name (if an account is created) to your interests etc. The data, in turns, helps them create a personalized on-site experience and deliver more targeted adverts to generate revenue.
Issue
However, many users find this tracking annoying
Though web tracking forms a source of revenue for website-based businesses, privacy and security advocates have argued that this kind of practice is being abused in many cases. Not to mention, users also don't like the idea of their web activity and habits being tracked as they move from one site to another on the internet.
Feature
This is where Mozilla Firefox comes in
Notably, Google is working on a 'sandbox' to maintain privacy for users while not completely blocking advertisers' source of money. But, Mozilla is taking the straight approach for blocking bad trackers. The corporation has issued a statement confirming that Enhanced Tracking Protection has been enabled in Firefox, giving users the ability to stay shielded from malicious third-party tracking.
Availability
Update Firefox to get the feature
Initially, the ability to block trackers was an opt-in feature in Firefox, but now, the capability has been enabled by default in its latest version - Firefox 69. If you want to use the capability, head over to the hamburger menu in the upper right corner, click on 'Help' and select 'About'. The browser will then automatically check for an update and install it.