Firefox 22 New Privacy Feature

Firefox 21 saw more options when it comes to Do Not Track. You can now choose one of three options:

• Tell sites that I do not want to be tracked
• Tell sites that want to be tracked
• Do not tell sites anything about my tracking preferences

In Firefox 22, there has been more effort made to prevent undesired tracking. Jonathan Mayer contributed a patch which prevents all third-party websites from installing cookies on the browser. 

What? No more cookies?!
Not quite. This feature allows cookies from websites you visit regularly, like Youtube or Google. However, Firefox will block cookies from third-party websites, such as a website you visited once or twice from a search result. This is beneficial because it reduces the risk of discrete websites monitoring your behaviour online.

Firefox 22 is trying to strike a middleground between functionality and privacy. In comparison, Safari does not allow any cookies at all by default. Chrome is on the other side of the spectrum, and allows all cookies.

How to change cookie settings in Firefox

Don’t like the change? Here’s how to change cookie settings in Firefox 22 back to the ‘classic’ setting.

Like the change or not, it should be pointed out that Mozilla is thinking of their users first. When Firefox first introduced the Do Not Track (DNT) settings, they commented:
“Do Not Track is not Mozilla’s position on tracking, it’s the individual’s — and that’s what makes it great! For that reason we have no plans to turn on Do Not Track by default.”