{"id":62544,"date":"2019-06-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foxtail\/2019\/06\/04\/firefox-now-available-with-enhanced-tracking-protection-by-default\/"},"modified":"2019-06-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T00:00:00","slug":"firefox-now-available-with-enhanced-tracking-protection-by-default","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/en\/firefox\/firefox-now-available-with-enhanced-tracking-protection-by-default\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefox Now Available with Enhanced Tracking Protection by Default Plus Updates to Facebook Container, Firefox Monitor and Lockwise"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been several weeks since I was promoted to Senior Vice President of Firefox<\/a>, responsible for overall Firefox product and web platform development. As a long-time employee with 10+ years, I\u2019ve seen a lot of things within the tech industry from data breaches, net neutrality and the rise and fall of tech companies. I believe that Firefox has and will continue to make a big impact in building the necessary protections to keep people safe online.<\/p>\n

This past year, we\u2019ve seen tech companies talk a big game about privacy as they’re realizing that, after several global scandals, people feel increasingly vulnerable. It\u2019s unfortunate that this shift had to happen in order for tech companies to take notice. At Firefox, we\u2019re doing more than that. We believe that in order to truly protect people, we need to establish a new standard that puts people\u2019s privacy first. At Firefox, we have been working on setting this standard by offering privacy-related features, like Tracking Protection in Private Browsing<\/a>, long before these issues were brought to light. With this new, increased awareness for privacy, we feel that the time is right for the next step in stronger online protections for everyone.<\/p>\n

Last year, we announced our new approach to anti-tracking<\/a>, and our commitment to help people stay safe whenever they used Firefox. One of those initiatives outlined was to block cookies from known third party trackers in Firefox. Today, Firefox will be rolling out this feature, Enhanced Tracking Protection, to all new users on by default, to make it harder for over a thousand companies to track their every move. Additionally, we\u2019re updating our privacy-focused features including an upgraded Facebook Container extension, a Firefox desktop extension for Lockwise, a way to keep their passwords safe across all platforms, and Firefox Monitor\u2019s new dashboard to manage multiple email addresses.<\/p>\n

Enhanced Tracking Protection blocks sites from tracking you<\/h2>\n

For new users who install and download Firefox for the first time, Enhanced Tracking Protection will automatically be set on by default as part of the \u2018Standard\u2019 setting in the browser and will block known \u201cthird-party tracking cookies\u201d according to the Disconnect list.<\/a> We talk more about tracking cookies here<\/a>. Enhanced Tracking Protection will be practically invisible to you and you\u2019ll only notice that it\u2019s operating when you visit a site and see a shield icon in the address bar next to the URL address and the small \u201ci\u201d icon. When you see the shield icon, you should feel safe that Firefox is blocking thousands of companies from your online activity.<\/p>\n

For those who want to see which companies we block, you can click on the shield icon, go to the Content Blocking section, then Cookies. It should read Blocking Tracking Cookies. Then, click on the arrow on the right hand side, and you\u2019ll see the companies listed as third party cookies and trackers that Firefox has blocked. If you want to turn off blocking for a specific site, click on the Turn off Blocking for this Site button.<\/p>\n

For existing users, we\u2019ll be rolling out Enhanced Tracking Protection by default in the coming months without you having to change a thing. If you can\u2019t wait, you can turn this feature on by clicking on the menu icon marked by three horizontal lines at the top right of your browser, then under Content Blocking. Go to your privacy preferences and click on the Custom gear on the right side. Mark the Cookies checkbox and make sure that \u201cThird-party trackers\u201d is selected. To learn more about our privacy and security settings and get more detail on what each section – Standard, Strict, and Custom – includes, visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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For existing users, go to your privacy preferences, click on the Custom gear and mark the Cookies checkbox<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Latest Facebook Container blocks tracking from other sites<\/h2>\n

Earlier this year, Mozilla was honored as one of the World\u2019s Most Innovative Companies<\/a> by Fast Company<\/a>. Notably our Facebook Container<\/a> extension played a big role in getting us selected. With more than two million downloads since it launched, our Facebook Container is an add-on\/web extension that helps you take control and isolate your web activity from Facebook (i.e. following and tracking you across the web<\/a>). Today, we\u2019re releasing the latest update for Facebook Container which prevents Facebook from tracking you on other sites that have embedded Facebook capabilities such as the Share and Like buttons on their site.<\/p>\n

For example, when you are on a news site and reading an article, you often see Facebook Like and Share buttons. Our Facebook Container will block these buttons and all connections to Facebook\u2019s servers, so that Facebook isn\u2019t able to track your visits to these sites. This blocking makes it much harder for Facebook to build shadow profiles<\/a> of non-Facebook users. You will know the blocking is in effect when you see the Facebook Container purple fence badge.<\/p>\n

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Facebook Container will block these buttons and all connections to Facebook\u2019s servers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To add the latest Facebook Container Add-On, visit here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meet Firefox Lockwise: Manage Your Passwords Safely and Take them Everywhere<\/h2>\n

Last Summer, we brought you Firefox Lockbox for iOS<\/a>, and in March of this year we announced both Firefox Lockbox for Android <\/a>and an iPad-optimized<\/a> version to expand the ecosystem. One of the top most requested features from users was to find a way to manage their passwords. Today, we are rolling out a Firefox desktop extension that offers this feature and completes this product family we are now calling Firefox Lockwise.<\/b><\/p>\n