Advertiser tracking in firefox

Be aware there is a new feature added to firefox v128 that is turned on by default. You probably want to turn it off.

Chrome the browser is owned by an advertising company and recently made changes to prevent users from blocking ads. Despite this, most people continue to use it.

My personal policy on web browsers is the same as my as policy on operating systems and web services; as long as I'm not forced to use chrome, microsoft, 'the cloud' or facebook, I don't care - I can use a sane alternative. I get pretty grumpy when essential services require these technologies. This weekend we tried to discover whether Arroyo Seco, a local (90-minute drive away) state park was open. Websites for national and state parks have always been bad, but it's extra depressing that they only post updates on park closures on facebook-owned instagram.

Today the only browser alternative is Firefox. Firefox can still block ads with plugins like ublock origin and umatrix but the overpaid CEO recently bought an ad company and has been working with facebook to integrate ad tracking into the browser.

There are efforts to develop a new open source browser called ladybird but browsers are incredibly complex and this won't be a viable alternative for several years.

So if you're using firefox (you should) with adblocking extensions (if you aren't, what is wrong with you?!), please revisit your security and privacy settings and disable the option I highlighted above.

posted by na on July 22, 2024 04:26