I was looking at this when I upgraded and that setting does not need to be there. If it was off by default, no one would feel the need to locate that check box and enable it. So just turn it off, remove it from settings and yank the code.
The language is even rather vague and Mozilla seems to good a long way to avoid explaining that this is the alternative Google has designed for Chrome to replace tracking via third party cookies (Protected Audience API I believe). Now it is better than third party cookie, but having neither is best.
This does not need to be in Firefox.
FYI Safari has been doing this (also enabled by default) for years on all Apple platforms.
To disable it on macOS: Safari > Preferences/Settings > Advanced > Uncheck "Allow privacy-preserving measurement of ad effectiveness"
To disable it on iOS: Settings > Safari > Advanced (scroll all the way down) > Turn off "Privacy Preserving Ad Measurement"
More infos about it:
https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/privacy-preserving-attribution-for-advertising/
https://github.com/mozilla/explainers/tree/main/ppa-experiment
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-ppm-dap/
Our DAP deployment is jointly run by
Mozilla and ISRG. Privacy is lost if
the two organizations collude
There's some good context in the Mozilla kb article on this feature: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/privacy-preserving-attr...
Search in settings in firefox seems to have a bug. Searching for "adver" gives no hits related to this, despite this setting being under a header labeled "Website Advertising Preferences"
I've been using Firefox for more than 20 years since the Phoenix days, even when it was cleary slower than Chrome (it still is but the diferences are minimal )
I'm not acting surprised, but I think it's more than time to start looking into a viable alternative.
It's "Chromium" (?) still a thing? Do you guys know if there is a browser based on Firefox that doesn't have any of the BS Mozilla is putting into their browser?
I'm really praying for Ladybird but of course it's still not ready for prime time.
This is why whenever I install firefox, I first turn off wifi. Then I go through the settings and disable the āstudiesā and other telemetry, etc, before switching the wifi back on. That will prevent the having to wait 30 days for the data to be deleted from Mozilla servers with itās āon by defaultā.
Tools > Settings > Privacy and Security > Website Advertising Preferences > Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement
I suppose I should finally switch to Librewolf.
I really don't like Firefox forks, for the slow updates and because I do genuinely use some bleeding edge features, but I'm tired of Mozilla.
The truely scary part of this isn't even the default "feature", It's the utter failure of Mozilla to read the room. Knowing their users would feel betrayed and doing it anyway is what freaks me out. To me it spells trouble for them monitarily that they are willing to anger their core userbase for cash on hand.
Related discussion from 2 days ago:
"Firefox added [ad tracking] and has already turned it on without asking you"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40954535 (170 comments)
--
Also, there are two options to disable the ad tracking behavior:
1. Use LibreWolf instead ā Advantage: This is also a long-term solution :)
2. Follow @thangalin's instructions to disable it in Firefox:
> Step 1. Visit about:config
> Step 2. Set dom.private-attribution.submission.enabled to false
duplicate of: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40965161
Google: ...
Mozilla: How high?
As a loyal user, I didn't quite see this coming. Under `Browser Privacy`, I have `Enhanced Tracking Protection` set to `Strict`. I had studies turned off, when I go to `about:studies` it explicitly says: "No new studies will run.". I have `Tell web sites not to sell or share my data` checked. I have `Send web sites a āDo Not Trackā request` checked. It seems like Mozilla still thought it was okay to automatically add a "Allow web sites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement" checkbox. Yet with that all set, they seem okay to let it be checked by default, so they can send off my data! They say: "A small number of sites are going to test this and provide feedback to inform our standardization plans, and help us understand if this is likely to gain traction." - that sounds a lot like a study, and I've opted out of studies!
I did not consent, and as best I can tell, Mozilla has breached GDPR.
As best I can tell, Mozilla disregarded my preferences. It seems they have violated these GDPR principles: a lack of consent, purpose limitation (unintended data use), `Data protection by design and default` AKA `privacy by design` (by ignoring settings), and right to object (disregarding preferences).
It is absolutely unfair to argue that it is not personal information about me. It seems to me that they are lying, or at the very least twisting words so thin. My trust in them is vanishing.
There is no way to reliably verify their differential privacy, and even if there was, they still had no informed consent to collect the data and send it off.
To give controls to a user, and then totally ignore them, is what got Facebook in big trouble.
It really looks like Mozilla is not only not listening to explicitly stated user preferences, preferences that have been set intentionally, but it's outright ignoring them and doing the very opposite of what the users intention is!
If they thought that they had a good reason to do so, and that the ends justifies the means, they are so very wrong.
I have used Firefox for as long as it's existed. For Mozilla, this is an almost sadistic own goal. How did they think that this was going to be okay? Did they think people would not find out? There will have to be changes after this at Mozilla if they were to regain trust and I'm really sceptical they can do it.
I really want / wanted them to succeed but I don't see how.
There is a lot fire directed at Mozilla on HN. I'm not saying I support or can make sense of all of their decisions but I'd love for someone in the criticizers camp to explain what steps they would take to make Mozilla and the continued development of Firefox a financially sustainable and independent endeavour.
So they're doing their own FLoC?
Anybody know if it's possible to turn this off at build time and how? This seems like a thing we ought to have a conversation about with the distro maintainers.
This might be a stupid question but who exactly gets access to that data? What's the process for getting said access? I guess it's paid but is it accessible to most ad networks or just the big players? (I can see upsides and downsides either way)
Iāve begrudgingly kept this enabled because if this works users are a lot better off, cannot be manipulated as they are currently, and it frees up the browser makers to break all the ways people are being tracked, pointing advertiser networks to this alternative.
Want to move away from browsers with potential corporate influences
I have a website. If I wanted to take advantage of this being on in my visitors browser (I really don't), what would I do? How do I use this? What exactly is it?
[dupe]
More discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40952330
Is Firefox's implementations of the Topics API as introduced in Chrome a couple of months back? Or is this something different?
Could PPA be used for the needs of developers doing analytics for determining which features are actually being used? For web-apps or for local apps?
It seems it could be a more private way to implement such functionality, if applicable.
well it is good that i just bought 256gbs of ram... (compiling ff needs like 80)
The way this story is unfolding feels like a tipping point in the management of Mozilla/Firefox.
Imagine if it was Apple doing this to Safari, it would certainly rile up more users even though it would be the same thing.
I'm curious (I know nothing about the tech): is this "privacy-preserving ad measurements" too complicated for the EU investigate and for law-makers to understand (is that the point)? Or designed to get the most data in the most GDPR-compliant way?
If you're not paying for it, you are the product.
I was about to clear it - but, you know what, it IS needed.
Website publishers need to know what works and what doesnāt - otherwise they cannot improve nor generate revenue.
So, privacy preserving measuring? Iām in, well done Mozilla.
Leaving the ethical discussion aside; from a practical standpoint this won't impact anyone worried about privacy using Firefox unless they insist on not using an ad-blocker (which would be add odds with caring about privacyĀ¹). This feature would only be used if you click on (or perhaps just encounter?) an ad and eventually buy something on the target website.
1: Or just caring about your mind constantly battling distractions.
The scare quotes here are uncalled for: it is privacy-preserving. The approach allows measurement without disclosing who, specifically, did what with the ad.
The best objection to these proposals isn't privacy, it's that a browser vendor is lifting a finger for advertisers. I guess the fundamental question there is if we prefer to outright shut down online advertising, or give it the tools it needs to be less bad. Opinions differ, but all major browser vendors are in the latter category.