Mozilla plans to remove the Do Not Track feature from Firefox. The idea behind it was simple: inform websites that the user of the browser does not want to be tracked.
What looked good on paper did not work well in the real world. Many sites ignored the header, which made it ineffective as a privacy tool.
Related:
Mozilla confirmed the removal of Do Not Track on its bug tracking website.
Global Privacy Control is the alternative
Global Privacy Control was created by several companies in 2020 as a successor to Do Not Track. The core difference to Do Not Track is that it is designed to be mandatory instead of optional, at least in some regions where consumer laws are in place.
Firefox users may enable the feature in the following way:
- Select the Menu button and then Settings.
- Switch to Privacy & Security.
- Check “Tell websites not to sell or share my data” under Website Privacy Preferences.
Is there a better alternative?
Whether advertisers, Internet sites, marketing companies, or other companies and services that track users honor the new Global Privacy Control feature is not in the control of the individual user.
Yes, some companies may get sued if they do not, but there is a good chance that this won’t reach mass adoption in the coming years and that tracking continues to take place.
That leaves taking care of tracking as good as you can by yourself. In fact, installing a content blocker and disabling third-party cookies are two of the best options in that regard.
While you could do more, these methods alone will block the bulk of tracking that you would otherwise be subject to on today’s Internet.
So, pick uBlock Origin and install it in a browser that is not operated by a multi-billion Dollar company. Then, open the Settings of the browser and disable third-party cookies.
Note: in some rare, very rare, instances, third-party cookies may prevent functionality on a low number of websites. If that is the case, you may still set exceptions for these sites while keeping third-party cookies blocked for every other site.
Now it is your turn. Do you enable privacy features such as Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control? What do you to block tracking on the Internet?
As with many things in the online universe – at least if they originate in the USA – your point is well-taken. And uBlock Origin is an excellent add-on. I would add, where available, EFF’s Privacy Badger as relatively light and effective. There are lots of more esoteric items out there but these two are comprehensive and don’t require fiddling with.
You might consider suggesting browsers. (I am not aware of that many I consider useful other than Mozilla’s, Brave, and DuckDuckGo’s).
Your little jab at google made me grin.
I’m using Mullvad browser with a custom userChrome.css to make it less fugly.
After that just NoScript and Ublock.
Yes I constantly have to “temporarily” allow scripts on many sites to get them to function but I don’t mind putting a little effort into my browsing.
+1 for Tachy’s approach. I also use Firefox (ESR, configured pretty much the same as Mullvad’s browser), NoScript and uBO, the latter with an extended set of blocklists.
And I also “constantly have to “temporarily” allow scripts on many sites to get them to function but I don’t mind putting a little effort into my browsing.”
Not a Privacy Badger fan any more. When it first came out, it could learn what sites were tracking you from your browsing, and build its own blocklist, which was very cool. But that turned out to be a tracking issue in itself, and now it just serves up a simple blocklist. Instead, for basic users I suggest just turn on “Strict”-level Enhanced Tracking Protection in Firefox, which does much the same and doesn’t need an add-on. If you like tinkering under the hood and/or want a lot more blocklists (and I do), it’s uBlock Origin for the win.