"Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
1–10 of 178 posts
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#2Was uncertain how to word the title better, open to suggestions. HN's title character limit made it hard.
This is about "privacy-preserving attribution" https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/privacy-preserving-attr...
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#3https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40952330 [131 comments, 8 hours ago]
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#4This is similar to the PPA/PCM that Safari added in 2021.
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#5The thread does not explain whether the behaviour of Firefox was actually changed when they added the check box, or if it is a new option to opt-out of something that could not be opted-out before.
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#6The thread does not explain whether the behaviour of Firefox was actually changed when they added the check box, or if it is a new option to opt-out of something that could not be opted-out before.
It's new:
> Firefox now supports the experimental Privacy Preserving Attribution API, which provides an alternative to user tracking for ad attribution. This experiment is only enabled via origin trial and can be disabled in the new Website Advertising Preferences section in the Privacy and Security settings.
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#7It is obvious why Firefox does this though; they have no income otherwise like Google does. Firefox users somehow think that using is "supporting" Mozilla/Firefox, but it is not, and they would not pay for the browser, or pay a subscription free. Privacy-friendly ads are a reasonable way for Mozilla to survive long-term -- if they are indeed privacy-friendly.
Ultimately you probably either need a clean-room NGO that ensures the data cannot be de-anonymized, or accept that ad impact counting is BS anyway and only measure profit increases across A/B ad phases.
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#8The thread does not explain whether the behaviour of Firefox was actually changed when they added the check box, or if it is a new option to opt-out of something that could not be opted-out before.
It added in the 'privacy preserving feature' that did not exist before, automatically enabled.
> Firefox now supports the experimental Privacy Preserving Attribution API, which provides an alternative to user tracking for ad attribution. This experiment is only enabled via origin trial and can be disabled in the new Website Advertising Preferences section in the Privacy and Security settings.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/128.0/releasenotes/
This is the page users saw when they updated to 128. No mention of this setting.
https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/128.0/whatsnew/?oldver...
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#9It is obvious why Firefox does this though; they have no income otherwise like Google does. Firefox users somehow think that using is "supporting" Mozilla/Firefox, but it is not, and they would not pay for the browser, or pay a subscription free. Privacy-friendly ads are a reasonable way for Mozilla to survive long-term -- if they are indeed privacy-friendly. Ultimately you probably either need a clean-room NGO that…
> Privacy-friendly ads are a reasonable way for Mozilla to survive long-term -- if they are indeed privacy-friendly.
At some level, trusting that privacy-friendly advertising through Firefox actually respects privacy is going to have to involve trusting Mozilla. Mozilla seems to have gone out of its way over the years to erode user trust, and this is just one more step down that road. As the author says, if Firefox is even sneakier about this than Chrome, what scope is there for trust?
Re: "Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
#10It is obvious why Firefox does this though; they have no income otherwise like Google does. Firefox users somehow think that using is "supporting" Mozilla/Firefox, but it is not, and they would not pay for the browser, or pay a subscription free. Privacy-friendly ads are a reasonable way for Mozilla to survive long-term -- if they are indeed privacy-friendly. Ultimately you probably either need a clean-room NGO that…
I would pay for a browser that was 100% ad- and tracking-free. I pay for an email account. I pay for YouTube. I pay for several streaming media services. I get that people are used to browsers being free, but no reason that can't change.