After implementing Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) by default last year, Mozilla announced that the latest version of Firefox will ship with ETP 2.0, which can block a new advanced tracking technique called redirect tracking. When users browse the web, they are constantly browsing between sites. For example, someone might search a search engine for "best running shoes," click a result to read a review, and then click a link to buy a pair of shoes from an online store. In the past, each of these websites had the option of integrating resources from the same crawler, and the crawler could use its cookies to link all of these visits to the same user. To better protect user privacy online, ETP 1.0 has prevented trackers from using cookies when embedded in a third-party context, although it still allows them to use third-party cookies, because blocking first-party cookies can often harm websites. . Redirect tracking takes advantage of this exception to bypass third-party cookie blocking. Redirect trackers work by forcing users to make a momentary stop on your website that is unnoticed by the end user. This means that instead of going directly from a review website to a retailer, users end up navigating to the redirect tracker before the retailer. As a result, the tracker is loaded as the first person and is allowed to store cookies.
Enhanced Tracking Protection 2.0
With the latest version of Firefox, once every 24 hours, ETP 2.0 will completely clear all cookies and site data stored by known trackers to prevent redirect trackers from creating a long-term profile of website activity. An online user. When a user first visits a redirect tracker, it may store a unique identifier in its cookie. Any redirects to this tracker that take place during the 24-hour period will be able to associate the tracking data with this same identification cookie. However, once ETP 2.0 runs, all identification cookies will be removed from Firefox and users will appear as if it were their first visit to a site in the tracker. ETP 2.0 will only apply to known trackers and cookies from non-tracked sites will not be affected. This is because trackers sometimes do more than just track and may also offer services that users interact with on a regular basis, such as a search engine or social network. If Firefox were to delete these cookies, users would find themselves disconnected from the messaging and social networking services they use every day, so Mozilla provides a 45-day exception for all trackers users directly interact with. According to Mozilla, ETP 2.0 will be rolled out to all Firefox users in the coming weeks.- Also check out our full list of the best VPN services.