How Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection Stops Websites From Spying On You

For years, websites have tracked our cookies and spied on our online habits. Isn’t it time to pay back for the service?

No, not spying on the entities spying on us, but finding out which websites are trying to peer into our digital life. Well, you can now use Firefox’s Advanced Tracking Protection. But before we get into how to set it all up, let’s understand why you need it.

How do websites track you?

If you look closely, you will notice that you are being followed all over the web. You go to a website selling shoes. You click on a pair and walk away without buying them.

All of a sudden, you start seeing advertisements for these shoes on almost every website you visit. Even on Facebook.

This is one of the ways websites track you. You can thank cookies for this. No, not the ones you eat. These are small text files that collect tracking information such as your IP address, device and browser type.

Every time you revisit the website, it recognizes you by your cookies. This way, you can continue your search from where you left off without having an account. Or buy items in a previously abandoned cart.

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This may sound great and extremely convenient, but it all has a downside.

Cookies may be harmful to your health

There are two types of cookies distributed on the web: own and third-party. Essential cookies are similar to the ones we’ve discussed – those that help improve your online experience.

Then there are third party cookies, which can be a little more sinister. Instead of coming from the website operator, they are created by other organizations that you have no idea about. You also did not consent to the collection or transfer of your information.

These objects will place cookies all over the Internet, allowing them to collect all kinds of data from users. Some even use algorithms to create “profiles” of users that will be sold and used by ad agencies.

If you are like most people, you do not want your data to be used against your consent to try to convince your logic or your wallet. Therefore, it is best to learn about the different types of entities that collect and track your data.

Who is responsible for The Cookie Crumbs?

There are many entities that create cookie crumbs on the web. As in the real world, it attracts a wide variety of creatures. Here’s a quick overview of the culprit behind this whole mess:

• Social media trackers: Sites like Facebook don’t just track your activities on their network – they track you online (even if you don’t have a profile!)
• Cross-site trackers : These types of cookies follow you from site to site, collecting data about you without your knowledge or consent. They are considered third party cookies.
• Cryptominers: These are the people who mine digital money (also known as cryptocurrencies such as bitcoins). They store scripts on your computer to drain your energy and energy to aid in the mining process.
• Content trackers. If you publish content from another site (like YouTube), the inline code comes with trackers. This can slow down your site’s performance.
• Fingerprints. These are sites that collect preference data from the browser you are using to create your profile. It can track your browser, extensions, operating system, device model, screen resolution, network connection, and even the fonts installed on your computer.

So what can you do to keep yourself safe from these data miners?

Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection

Firefox has always bragged about being on your side. They have strict privacy policies and they do comply with them.

If you’ve never changed the settings in your Firefox browser, chances are you’ve already gotten into this problem. When you first load your browser, it automatically blocks third-party tracking cookies.

You will learn that Firefox Enhanced Tracking Protection is activated when you visit a site and see a shield icon (“i”) next to a URL. Note that this is how you can find out if a site is tracking you or not.

Now, if you are a regular Firefox user and want to make sure this feature is enabled, do the following:

1. Click the three horizontal lines in the upper right corner of the screen.
2. Go to privacy protections and click the protection level gear.
3. Select custom.
4. Click the arrow next to cookies.
5. Check the box for third party trackers.

6. You can also select the fields you want to block, such as cryptominers, content trackers, and fingerprints.

How to use the Firefox Privacy Report to see blocked trackers

Now the fun part is to find out who tried to spy on you without your permission. You need to download Firefox 70 or higher for this to work.

Once you’ve got this, follow these steps:

1. Click the shield in the address bar (it will be gray if Firefox doesn’t detect trackers on the page, and purple if it blocks trackers).
2. Select show report to see what types of trackers (and how many) have been blocked in the last week.

Firefox also takes your privacy to the next level with the Facebook Container extension This will prevent Facebook from tracking users online. It works by blocking built-in Facebook features such as the Share and Like buttons on the site.

Facebook was recently kicked out for developing shady user and non-user profiles, which is creepy to say the least.

Protect your anonymity while browsing the web

There was a time when someone could enjoy browsing the internet without being targeted for ads or harassed by cryptominers and shadow profile collectors.

Finally, there is a way to bring that calm back. So try these advanced Firefox anti-tracking tools and techniques to keep yourself safe from data collectors.

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