Firefox 70 New Tracking Protection

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Questions regarding the new/re-formatted Browser Privacy – Enhanced Tracking Protection Privacy settings.

Firstly, under “Custom” selection, what happened to the “Change block list” that was under “Trackers” in ver 69 wherein you could select block level 1 or level 2? Also ver 69 always showed the cookies being used by the site you were currently on in the website address bar, I don’t see those shown in ver 70?

Second, I have played around with the settings/results using the http://www.foxnews.com site as a test site and also compared the results to what is/was being blocked under ver 69.  My results show that ver 69 shows many more third party cookies and trackers being blocked than under ver 70 with similar settings.

Also confusing is if I use the “Standard” setting, the info shield located in the website address bar shows Cross-site tracking cookies blocked – 16 and Tracking not blocked – 22.  But “Strict” or “Custom” setting (with all third party cookies blocked) shows Cross-site tracking – None and Tracking – 14.

Shouldn’t it be blocking the same Cross-site tracking – 16 and also now block the 22 – Tracking as was shown with the Standard Setting?

Is something wrong here?

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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Change for the sake of Change?; I do not know, but Mozilla changed it again! Now Users are supposed to click on show report list item to see this information.

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop

See also:

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/70.0/releasenotes/

With this removal of block list choice your test result it makes sense to use uBlock Origin or uMatrix to add extra protection.

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In the past decade or more, there seems to be this idea that newer means better.  I have very often found this to not be the case, especially lately.  This is one of the main reasons I do my best to keep good older things that work just fine.  Unfortunately in the computer world you can’t always do this and have to give in to what’s being offered, even if it means using cr–.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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? says:

i dunno about more cookies with ff70, (i block all third party) but i got a new “Show alerts about passwords for breached websites,” in >Preferences>Privacy & Security>Logins and Passwords-Lockwise:

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-lockwise-alerts-breached-websites?as=u&utm_source=inproduct

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I don’t know about the rest of you, but I still have the tracking list selection available to me in FF70 after letting FF69.0.3 update itself to FF70. It’s still where it always has been, below the “Tracking content” selection area in the Custom settings box, not the Standard or Strict boxes. This is, of course, in the options/privacy and security settings area.

The list selection is still fully functional, as well.

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anonymous wrote:

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I still have the tracking list selection available to me in FF70 after letting FF69.0.3 update itself to FF70. It’s still where it always has been, below the “Tracking content” selection area in the Custom settings box

Are you saying that under “Tracking content” you have a link that allows you to select either a Level 1 or a Level 2 blocking list like in 69.0.3?  What Windows version are you running?

Does the drop down list from the shield in the address bar show not only what is being blocked but also the current site’s 1st party cookies being used?

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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Are you saying that under “Tracking content” you have a link that allows you to select either a Level 1 or a Level 2 blocking list like in 69.0.3?

Yep! And, to answer your other question, I’m on Win 7 SP1 64 bit using FF70 64 bit. The browser has always been updated from within the browser using its built-in updater, never by d/l’ing  and subsequently installing the executable for the newest version.

I’ve been using FF 64 bit for quite some time, ever since they let 32 bit users upgrade to 64 bit, maybe two or three years ago by now.

R/

Bob99

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Almost forgot…it’s a little blue colored “hyperlink” that says “Change block list” just like it always has, right under the listing for Tracking protection.

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Tex265, good that you are looking at the privacy telemetry options in Firefox. Even Firefox has this.

Note that in one Mozilla Support article I saw years ago, Mozilla said turning off telemetry did NOT necessarily mean turning off the archiving on the hard drive and using your hard drive space. They were right. I had to turn off Telemetry archiving.

See https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/preventing-firefox-telemetry-data-collection/ for more information and look at post 1951405. It is older data but -may- still apply.

In 2018 MakeUseOf website had an article on speeding up Firefox and they disabled much of telemetry. https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/speed-up-firefox-immediately-with-these-6-simple-tweaks/

I hope more people post how to tame or totally stop telemetry in the new Firefox.

Charlie, I agree with you! Many feel newer is better but it seems newer means more telemetry. This is true of new firmware updates too.

Here is a site that you and others should investigate, http://www.oldversion.com/
“Newer is not always better” seems true.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Charlie

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[Charlie]

It looks unchanged to me on my FF 70.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Charlie.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Charlie.

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Charlie, that is exactly how my FF 70 screen looks.

However, in FF 69 under Tracking there was a blue lettered link you could click on and it took you to a screen that allowed you to select from 2 tracking block levels, level 1 (default) or level 2 (almost if not all trackers).  This is now gone based on what you and I are showing.

Wonder what level FF70 is using now?

Does the drop down list from the shield in your address bar show not only what is being blocked but also the current site’s 1st party cookies being used?  Mine no longer does, use to in version 69.

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

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No, mine is the same, it doesn’t tell much except “show report” which shows how many of differing types are being blocked.  No first party, etc.  This is when you click on the shield in the address bar.  I can’t find any tracking block levels either.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

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To see what @Tex265 ‘s talking about with tracking levels, click the “hamburger” icon in the upper right corner of the browser, then select “Options” (with the gear-looking symbol next to it). On that new page, select the “Privacy & Security” option on the left side. Scroll down a bit and you’ll see what @Tex265 is asking about.

HTH

R/

Bob99

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@Charlie –

Please ignore my post just above, as I’d forgotten that you’d posted a screenshot of the exact settings area I was trying to direct you to.

From what I see in your screenshot above in post 1992834, you don’t have the tracking protection level selection option either, just like what @Tex265 is rightfully complaining about.

For some reason, I still have the selection available to me and I think it’s tied to having selected an option deep within the about:config settings page many many moons ago when you had to do it that way to get tracking protection enabled.

Again, sorry ’bout my post right above this one!

R/

Bob99

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[Tex265]

This is when you click on the shield in the address bar. I can’t find any tracking block levels either.

Here is what mine looks like:

Windows 10 Pro x64 v22H2 and Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 (RIP)

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Tex265.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by Tex265.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

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I switched to my backup hard drive that still had Firefox 69.0.2 and found exactly what you have been talking about Tex265.  I had never clicked on it before.  Seems we were at Level 1 and that was recommended.

Click the blue lettered link and you get:

The blue lettered “Check Block List” is no longer there in FF 70.

Being 20 something in the 70's was so much better than being 70 something in the insane 20's

1 user thanked author for this post.

Lars220

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