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Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

blog.mozilla.org

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Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is also one of the main reasons I use my iPhone so little, since it doesn't really have any way to adblock. You can block ads in Safari iOS with a Content Blocker. 1Blocker is pretty robust: https://1blocker.com/ Firefox for iOS also has Tracking Protection built in, which blocks most ads.

does not seem to be open source. Why is it trustworthy of my entire browsing history?

Safari content blockers do not have access to your browsing history. It’s a declared list of patterns to block.

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More details here[0], but in short, they'll "block them" by deleting cookies and site data of redirect trackers every 24h, preventing long term profile building, while not breaking the redirects. There's also a "Google search link fix" recommended extension that fixes those URLs (replaces https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&c... to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday in your example). Also ava…

Those fixes still have to resolve the url. The best fix is using duck.com and getting off Google search.

real url is right in the tracking one ..... AhAB&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FSunday&usg=AOvVaw3AEEL2UuDK8DJPu1wtWera

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even less data if you use uBlock Origin and possibly uMatrix (which is very high maintenance, but also reveals the utter insanity of the web). Without an adblocker the internet is such a slow heap of trash that I'd never go back to not using one. This is also one of the main reasons I use my iPhone so little, since it doesn't really have any way to adblock.

The only downside is that product managers who rely on third-party analytics to decide what platforms are relevant will never see Firefox+uBlock users as relevant. I've had to argue this at multiple companies; fortunately at some places multiple developers used uBlock so it wasn't as hard as making the case alone.

Percentage wise adblock users or Firefox users total to about 10% of users so it really depends on the target user demographic to say whether or not you need to specially account that those users aren't being reflected. Coding tools probably. Game for a social website probably not.

Also depends on the financial model, if it's primarily ad based then the group of users you don't have good ad data for isn't something you should care about either.

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but somehow, news sites have a video that plays This is so annoying, engaging in such obviously obnoxious UX patterns should be regulated and punished with fines when user-intent tries to be circumvented. The "just dont visit that website lol"-trope really doesn't cut it anymore; operating a news paper organization nowadays is such a cutthroat business that you simply can't not do it if your competition does it, th…

It’s the free market working as intended - if most people cared, the first site to stop doing auto playing videos would get more traffic and other sites would follow. As of right now, the benefit of auto playing videos outweighs the cost of pissing off the few users who care.

> It’s the free market working as intended - if most people cared, the first site to stop doing auto playing videos would get more traffic and other sites would follow.

The problem with these "free market" explanations is that comparisons aren't being made equally and there's a lot of tech illiteracy when quantifying metrics.

To the unfair comparison, who is going to stop the videos? A small news publishing site? You're going to argue that everything else besides the autoloading video is the same? Including the knowledge of the existence and quality to the public? I thought it was pretty well known in the tech community that a superior product isn't guaranteed to win, even if it is able to be manufactured at the same rate. These arguments barely work on paper and have a long history of not working in reality. (BTW, this isn't an anti-capitalism comment as you are already thinking.)

As to the quantifying metrics, well sites see that "engagement" goes up. So why would they stop? Don't believe me? Well see this comment[0]. Metrics are only good metrics if you know what they mean and how to interpret them. Goodhart's Law is especially prevalent when people are illiterate.

[0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24063801

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#165
post #130

My friend who works in an adtech company: "Protip: Use Firefox instead of Chrome. We get very little data from Firefox users"

Even less data if you use uBlock Origin and possibly uMatrix (which is very high maintenance, but also reveals the utter insanity of the web). Without an adblocker the internet is such a slow heap of trash that I'd never go back to not using one. This is also one of the main reasons I use my iPhone so little, since it doesn't really have any way to adblock.

Setup a pihole and point your iPhone DNS settings to that.

You can use wireguard to tunnel to it when you are outside of your home network

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is also one of the main reasons I use my iPhone so little, since it doesn't really have any way to adblock. You can block ads in Safari iOS with a Content Blocker. 1Blocker is pretty robust: https://1blocker.com/ Firefox for iOS also has Tracking Protection built in, which blocks most ads.

does not seem to be open source. Why is it trustworthy of my entire browsing history?

You’ll want to get ‘Firefox Focus’ and then set the ad tracking on for safari.

Focus is designed to be a short use browser that deliberately minimises tracking, akin to fast access private browsing.

That said you only need to get the app to turn on their tracking protection which blocks ads on Safari.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/mozilla-is-ad...

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#167
post #106
post #105

The only browser we can trust today. Glad to see they’re making privacy online a priority, on top of an already amazing browser I use regularly and exclusively both on Linux and iOS.

Honest question, what's wrong with Safari, that you can not trust it?

Firefox sync is not something I’m willing to give up. Also like Firefox UI better compared with safari on iOS.

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only downside is that product managers who rely on third-party analytics to decide what platforms are relevant will never see Firefox+uBlock users as relevant. I've had to argue this at multiple companies; fortunately at some places multiple developers used uBlock so it wasn't as hard as making the case alone.

> fortunately at some places multiple developers used uBlock so it wasn't as hard as making the case alone. Is adblocking not common? Every tech literate person I know uses an ad blocker. I'd say about 30-40% of millennials I know use them, most using ADB or uBlock Origin. Every time I see someone using a browser with ads I forget what a nightmare the internet is.

Only 30% of FF users have any add-ons at all. Only about 1/3 of those have adblock plus or unlock origin.

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#169
post #24

This is fantastic. I never liked the cookies sticking around forever, and managing them manually was a massive pain if you wanted to keep some of them. Not to mention Firefox is usually brought to its knees when trying to delete large segments of History/Cookies at once.

> This is fantastic. I never liked the cookies sticking around forever, and managing them manually was a massive pain if you wanted to keep some of them. You might like the CookieAutoDelete plugin[1]. It's a recommended plugin which allows you to set a list of domains and domain patterns which retain their cookies while others are deleted. I've been using it for a couple of months now, and I love it. [1] https://addo…

Using uMatrix makes this redundant. It always allows cookies to be sent, but only sends them back to the server iff the domains are in the allow list.

Re: Latest Firefox rolls out Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0

#170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> fortunately at some places multiple developers used uBlock so it wasn't as hard as making the case alone. Is adblocking not common? Every tech literate person I know uses an ad blocker. I'd say about 30-40% of millennials I know use them, most using ADB or uBlock Origin. Every time I see someone using a browser with ads I forget what a nightmare the internet is.

Not everywhere, I'd say it's common within specific crowds. At my company people are either don't know about them, or actually fundamentally disagree with their purpose. (No, it's not an AdTech company, before anyone asks)

But is it a software company? I can understand the disagreement, but with the state of things it is just atrocious. I'd be fine if things weren't so invasive and were clearly ads. Pop ups, pop unders, dark patterns to cause clicks, flashy images on text pages, malware injection, 10x page load times, etc are all reasons why I personally can't stand it. It just feels like they are trying to trick me into seeing their product instead of trying to generate real interest. Until then, I personally can't support it.

I don't think most people minds ads, such as on TV, but everyone hates the ad that is 10x the volume of the show and that's how the internet feels to me currently.

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