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Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

windowsreport.com

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Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#41
post #9

As a web developer i don't think i have ever supported this feature, but only because i never remembered to. It's a pretty easy feature to add, but unless browsers can force it, you're better off with uBLock.

No one (corporate) supports it unless it comes enabled by default with whatever compliance service/ plugin used on their sites. The best combo I've found so far is Waterfox + uBO. I'm sure there are others, but this works well if you don't want to use a chromium based browser.

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#42
I think the browser should behave differently when Do Not Track is enabled. Instead of whatever it does now, it should be updated so that when the user selects it the browser automatically installs uBO, privacy badger, etc. After all, that's what the user really needs to have the browser respect their wishes of not being tracked.

So rather than eliminate it with another thing that is nothing more than a name changes, it should just become useful

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#43

> However, as we approach 2025, with growing concerns about online privacy and data protection, Mozilla believes that DNT is no longer an effective privacy measure. Many websites ignore the DNT signal. Therefore, Mozilla has removed the DNT signal from Firefox version 135. This is spurious reasoning. "Many" is neither a percentage, or a basis for justification. Many people ignore speed limits - so what? >The company…

Websites don't just "ignore" DNT, they actively use DNT to improve tracking.

From a product perspective, this is an additional option in their settings page that is confusing and marginally useless. I work on creating user facing products as my job, and I 100% support this decision.

I'll be honest: nobody is going to stop Firefox because of this, because it does not affect their life in any way or manner.

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#44
post #43

> However, as we approach 2025, with growing concerns about online privacy and data protection, Mozilla believes that DNT is no longer an effective privacy measure. Many websites ignore the DNT signal. Therefore, Mozilla has removed the DNT signal from Firefox version 135. This is spurious reasoning. "Many" is neither a percentage, or a basis for justification. Many people ignore speed limits - so what? >The company…

Websites don't just "ignore" DNT, they actively use DNT to improve tracking. From a product perspective, this is an additional option in their settings page that is confusing and marginally useless. I work on creating user facing products as my job, and I 100% support this decision. I'll be honest: nobody is going to stop Firefox because of this, because it does not affect their life in any way or manner.

Per oytis: "An obvious solution would be to turn it on by default"

I do agree with your point on people continuing to use Firefox in spite of this. Most people are not invested in the details, or don't care about security/privacy, or can't be bothered to figure out which other browser option is best for their use case.

My annoyance is more so on their behalf - that average people will probably be unaware of what security feature is being taken away from them. Do they care? Probably not. Will it change much for them? No. It irks me, however, that they no longer even have the option.

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#45
post #10

[flagged]

>they became an ad company ???

Mozilla changed their goals over the last 5 years pretty drastically in an effort to chase revenue. It's a failing strategy assuming you want go remain a privacy focused organization.

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#46
"Do Not Track" was a good standard, but on the today's global Internet, unenforceable without serious push back against non-compliant sites from either government regulators and/or consumers. In other words, privacy theater that misled users into thinking it made them safer. It has also been suggested that DNT signals are used by some advertisers in profiling users. But removing DNT suspiciously seems like a capitulation, and will short-circuit any existing efforts to use it to protect consumer privacy. Maskawanian is right, this was inevitable once Mozilla decided to become an ad company (as was their adding the deceptively named Privacy-Preserving Ad Attribution feature earlier this year). I think it's time for people concerned about privacy to consider alternatives to Mozilla.

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#47

> However, as we approach 2025, with growing concerns about online privacy and data protection, Mozilla believes that DNT is no longer an effective privacy measure. Many websites ignore the DNT signal. Therefore, Mozilla has removed the DNT signal from Firefox version 135. This is spurious reasoning. "Many" is neither a percentage, or a basis for justification. Many people ignore speed limits - so what? >The company…

Mozilla makes it increasingly difficult to support Firefox. I'm beginning to realize the only solution there is an entirely different governing body than Mozilla like most of the Firefox derivatives are now. Sigh.

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#49
post #16

I understand that many people here have a bad taste of Mozilla's recent actions in many aspects. But the reality here is that this is at worst removing something that almost nobody respected. It was based on honor system and even in Switzerland they do have random inspections for honor system. Browsers never had any enforcement of this feature. And ironically it was used as additional data point of tracking privacy a…

the conversation / system is rigged. how it should have been done in a fair way: 1. assume the user by default does not want to be tracked and make do-not-track opt-out. 2. have it running for a few years and gradually increase the heat on the discussion that nobody respects it. If it would've been done this way it would've been newsworthy and maybe would've been considered as something to enforce via regulation (at…

Oh no, gradually increasing heat in online privacy-focused tech discussions! An adtech companies worst nightmare! How will they survive :(

Re: Firefox removes "do not track" feature support

#50
post #21

So GPC is basically the same as DNT, but according to [1], "GPC improves on DNT in several ways:" - Legal backing: Unlike DNT, GPC is supported by more laws, like the CCPA, which requires businesses to honor these signals. - Targeted approach: While DNT broadly addressed tracking, GPC focuses specifically on stopping data from being sold or shared, making it more relevant to today’s privacy needs. - Better adoption p…

> GPC is supported by more laws, like the CCPA, which requires businesses to honor these signals Because it's off by default? It's the exact same thing, a header with a preset value. > While DNT broadly addressed tracking, GPC focuses specifically on stopping data from being sold or shared, making it more relevant to today’s privacy needs. My needs are not being tracked. The tracking is what comes before the selling.…

> Companies that never respected DNT aren't going to respect GPC.

It depends. While I agree that GPC is technically just a more complicated form of DNT, the major difference is that DNT is 100% optional for websites to honor, which is why they don't, but GPC becomes mandatory for nations that have reasonable laws around tracking. Companies operating in those nations will honor it because there are legal penalties if they don't.

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