Configuring anonymity in the Mozilla Firefox browser
Today we will talk about setting up the Mozilla Firefox browser, and we will talk about the features that increase its anonymity.
How do I disable tracking in Firefox?
You will not find the following browser settings in the standard "Options" tab. To block the tracking function, you need to go to the hidden functions section. To do this, type the following parameter in the address bar: about: config
First of all, you will see a warranty warning window. Since no warranty obligations apply to the browser, feel free to click on the blue button "I promise I'll be careful!".
A window of Mozilla's hidden settings will appear in front of you.
For Firefox to become a non-tracking browser, we need to change 7 parameters, each of which changes in the following sequence:
- Enter the name of the parameter in the "search" line
- On the line that appears, right-click
- Click on "Switch".
Privacy Enhancement Feature - First-Party Isolation
In one of the latest browser versions, Mozilla has added a privacy enhancement feature that helps block the online ad tracking mechanism by countering browser fingerprints. This feature is called First-Party Isolation (FPI) and first appeared in Firefox 55.
First-Party Isolation
Most of the online advertising mechanisms create cookies on the computer of the user who visits the site.
FPI distributes cookies. This means that when First-Party Isolation is enabled, the ad engines do not see the saved cookies, but only those that he himself left. With FPI enabled, online advertising engines create a different new profile for each site individually visited by a user. This prevents ads from merging these cookies and the user's browsing history into one profile.
Turn on First-Party Isolation
Since the FPI feature was back in Firefox 55, not all browser fans knew about it, because for unknown reasons. it was not included in the update announcement.
This feature is not enabled by default in the browser. As explained, one of the reasons that when the FPI function is enabled, there may be a conflict with the authentication mechanisms on the sites.
There are two main ways to enable First Party Isolation:
- Through Firefox settings
- Via add-ons
Enabling First-Party Isolation in Firefox Preferences
- Enter about: config in the address bar and press Enter on the keyboard.
- In the search for settings, we enter "firstparty".
- Two options appear: privacy.firstparty.isolate and privacy.firstparty.isolate.restrict_opener_access.
- We activate both parameters (it is recommended to disable the second parameter if suddenly there are problems with authorization on any site).
We enable First-Party Isolation through the add-on
- Install the First Party Isolation add-on.
- Reload your browser.
Next, you will find a button in the browser toolbar.
Hidden features that increase the anonymity of the firefox browser.
Google Safe Browsing
This option sends data about all your online activities to Google. For example, the files that you download are first checked in the Google Cloud service for the correct hash and other parameters, and only then are they downloaded to your computer. This is done in good faith to protect the user from downloading infected files. However, if you have something to hide, or you are sure that the document you are downloading was blocked by Google by mistake, then disable this option. To do this, find three parameters:
- safebrowsing.downloads.enabled
- safebrowsing.malware.enabled
- safebrowsing.phishing.enabled
You can also disable the browser.safebrowsing.blockedURIs.enabled function
Mozilla Browser Statistics
You can safely disable the parameter that is responsible for collecting data about your behavior and sends this report to the browser developers. Turn off the following lines:
- healthreport.uploadEnabled
- policy.dataSubmissionEnabled
- healthreport.service.firstRun
Using WebRTC
We recently wrote about this parameter we recommend reading it if you use not only Firefox.
The parameter responsible for
IP address disclosure in Mozilla is as follows:
- peerconnection.enabled
DRM usage
DRM is a technical means used to protect copyrights. Simply put, those sites that do not want their content to be "stolen" block their data with such a digital signature. This is very often done by hosting providers with video files, for example, Netflix.
Unfortunately, you won't be able to completely remove DRM from Firefox (you need to download a
separate assembly for this), but you can disable the most active component of the protective tools:
- eme.enabled
Also, it will not be superfluous to uncheck the "Settings" - "Content" menu:
Disable geolocation
We believe that the browser does not need to know exactly where you are, but we must warn you that disabling this feature will inevitably affect the issuance of your queries in search engines.
- geo.enabled
Submitting your search history
Since we started talking about search results, we cannot fail to mention the fact that Firefox sends the entire history of your queries to the search engine. It seems to us that this is not necessary at all, so disable the function:
- search.suggest.enabled
So, we have listed six parameters that should be disabled, and now we will tell you what needs to be activated.
Prevent website tracking
This option forces sites not to track your behavior on them. The blocking of Mozilla Firefox sites is very fine-tuned, and after activating this option, we did not notice that the browser allowed any Internet sites to collect information about user actions:
- trackingprotection.enabled