- Mozilla Firefox makes it harder for sites to track “fingerprints”
- Digital information such as your hardware specifications is collected by websites
- This information can then track user activity even when browsing privately.
When you use a web browser, it is common for websites to ask your permission to use tracking cookies to collect data about your browsing habits, usually with the option to opt-out.
However, “fingerprinting” is much harder to block than cookies, and websites can track your activity using your device’s hardware specifications, time zone, and other information provided to improve site performance and functionality.
If this information is gathered into a profile, they can track your browsing habits even in private browsing mode – but Mozilla Firefox is now introducing fingerprinting defenses that it says can reduce identifiable unique users by around 70%.
Burn fingerprints
The new protections were introduced as part of Firefox’s Enhanced Tracking Protection service in Firefox 145.
Protection is currently only available in browsers’ strict Private Browsing and Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) modes, but testing in these environments will soon see the protection extended to regular browsing in the future.
Many websites run invasive scripts that collect information about your browser and device that can be used for tracking purposes, and these scripts will often run even if you refuse cookies.
These scripts will analyze metrics such as browser version, operating system, screen resolution and color settings, system language, fonts, time zone, GPU rendering behavior, CPU cores, touchscreen capabilities, and your device’s memory.
Enhanced Tracking Protection already offers a range of anti-fingerprint measures. “Since 2021, Firefox has gradually improved fingerprint protections, covering the most popular fingerprinting techniques,” Mozilla said. “These include things like how your graphics card draws images, what fonts your computer has, and even tiny differences in how it performs math.”
In order to hinder other fingerprinting techniques, Mozilla introduced new mechanisms such as adding random noise to background images when read by the site, mandating the use of standard operating system fonts (aside from language fonts), and hiding touch support, screen resolution, and number of CPU cores.
These new protections can reduce the number of users with unique fingerprints to just 20%, compared to more than 60% of users who can have fingerprints without any protection. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that any browser will be able to drop this figure to 0%, as many websites rely on fingerprinting information for key website features and functionality.
Via BeepComputer
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