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How do I disable a PPA that "anonymously" spies on your clicks?
The popular Firefox browser, which has long positioned itself as a defender of privacy, was at the center of a scandal. In the recently released version 128, developers have implemented a new feature called "Privacy-preserving attribution" (PPA), which by default collects data about user interaction with ads.
This feature allows advertisers to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns without using third-party cookies. However, many are outraged that Mozilla, the Firefox developer company, activated it by default without notifying users directly.
The situation is particularly comical, given that the Firefox homepage boasts the promise of "no questionable privacy notices or loopholes for advertisers." Many people say that Mozilla violated its obligations and undermined trust in the brand.
Jonah Aragon, founder of the Privacy Guides blog, does not hide his disappointment with Mozilla's actions. He stressed that adding the word "privacy" to the function name does not make it truly private. According to him, Mozilla was most likely aware that the public would react negatively. If the company hadn't anticipated this reaction, it would have openly explained the essence of the new feature and given developers the opportunity to study it before implementing it.
The PPA technology was developed by the recently acquired Mozilla company Anonym, which specializes in marketing solutions. It is important to note that traditional extensions for blocking content were powerless against the new tool.
Discussions on social media were particularly heated. One Mastodon user even said that " it would be better if Mozilla openly demanded $ 50 from all users to develop Firefox, otherwise threatening to publish their bookmarks and browser history."
Bas Schouten, Mozilla's technical head of performance, tried to justify the implementation of the PPA, saying that the tool will allow advertisers to get information about clicks without tracking individuals. According to him, the system generates only generalized reports.
Schouten also noted that the "enable at will" option only makes sense if users can make an informed decision. After all, explaining how a PPA works is a difficult task, and most people have a negative attitude towards any pop-up notifications that interfere with their work.
However, critics argue that tracking without cookies provides only the illusion of privacy, and data can be easily deanonymized using various methods and linked to unique advertising identifiers of visitors.
According to Mozilla, the PPA works like this:
Aragon suggested an alternative solution: use unique links for advertising and track conversions by counting visits for each link. He also stressed that Firefox users are quite capable of understanding the basic principles of tracking and making an informed decision about whether they want their browser to monitor their actions.
If you want to disable this feature, Firefox provides this option in the settings. Here's what you need to do:
Source
The popular Firefox browser, which has long positioned itself as a defender of privacy, was at the center of a scandal. In the recently released version 128, developers have implemented a new feature called "Privacy-preserving attribution" (PPA), which by default collects data about user interaction with ads.
This feature allows advertisers to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns without using third-party cookies. However, many are outraged that Mozilla, the Firefox developer company, activated it by default without notifying users directly.
The situation is particularly comical, given that the Firefox homepage boasts the promise of "no questionable privacy notices or loopholes for advertisers." Many people say that Mozilla violated its obligations and undermined trust in the brand.
Jonah Aragon, founder of the Privacy Guides blog, does not hide his disappointment with Mozilla's actions. He stressed that adding the word "privacy" to the function name does not make it truly private. According to him, Mozilla was most likely aware that the public would react negatively. If the company hadn't anticipated this reaction, it would have openly explained the essence of the new feature and given developers the opportunity to study it before implementing it.
The PPA technology was developed by the recently acquired Mozilla company Anonym, which specializes in marketing solutions. It is important to note that traditional extensions for blocking content were powerless against the new tool.
Discussions on social media were particularly heated. One Mastodon user even said that " it would be better if Mozilla openly demanded $ 50 from all users to develop Firefox, otherwise threatening to publish their bookmarks and browser history."
Bas Schouten, Mozilla's technical head of performance, tried to justify the implementation of the PPA, saying that the tool will allow advertisers to get information about clicks without tracking individuals. According to him, the system generates only generalized reports.
Schouten also noted that the "enable at will" option only makes sense if users can make an informed decision. After all, explaining how a PPA works is a difficult task, and most people have a negative attitude towards any pop-up notifications that interfere with their work.
However, critics argue that tracking without cookies provides only the illusion of privacy, and data can be easily deanonymized using various methods and linked to unique advertising identifiers of visitors.
According to Mozilla, the PPA works like this:
- Websites with ads can request Firefox to save "impressions" — information about the ad served and the site itself.
- When a user visits a landing page and performs the desired action (conversion), the site may ask Firefox to generate a report.
- The browser creates an encrypted report and sends it to a special "aggregation service", where it is combined with other similar reports.
- Advertisers only receive aggregated information that has random "noise" added to it for additional data protection.
Aragon suggested an alternative solution: use unique links for advertising and track conversions by counting visits for each link. He also stressed that Firefox users are quite capable of understanding the basic principles of tracking and making an informed decision about whether they want their browser to monitor their actions.
If you want to disable this feature, Firefox provides this option in the settings. Here's what you need to do:
- Go to "Settings" (Click Firefox in the menu bar, select Options or Settings)
- In the "Privacy and Security" panel, find the "Advertising settings on websites"section
- Uncheck "Allow websites to measure ads while maintaining privacy".
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