Mozilla to extend its ‘total cookie protection’ feature to Firefox 89 browser- Technology News, Firstpost

tech2 News StaffJun 04, 2021 14:20:28 IST

Mozilla has announced that it is extending its ‘total cookie protection’ feature to Firefox 89 browser, which will offer an additional protection against cross-site tracking cookies to Private Browsing windows. “At Mozilla, we believe that your right to privacy is fundamental. Unfortunately, for too long cookies have been used by tracking companies to gather data about you as you browse the web. Today, with the launch of Firefox 89, we are happy to announce that Firefox Private Browsing windows now include our innovative Total Cookie Protection by default,” Mozilla said in a blog post.

Firefox says its Total Cookie Protection is a set of “privacy improvements” based on a principle that a user’s browser should not allow sharing of cookies between websites. It’s now enforced in Firefox Private Browsing windows and helps by creating a separate cookie jar for every website that the user visits.

Previously, third-party cookies were shared between websites. Now, every website gets its own cookie jar so that cookies can’t be used to share data between them. Illustration: Meghan Newell/Mozilla blog

This helps keep cookies confined to that particular website and cannot be used by companies to follow the user from one site to other for tracking browsing history.

Moreover, this feature also covers a slew of other browser technologies that could be used previously for cross-site tracking. However, the feature will allow sharing of cookies if needed for cross-site logins or related cross-site functionality.

Firefox’s Private Browsing windows have a slew of other privacy protections by default. For users who already have Firefox installed, they can open a private browsing window by clicking on the Application Menu button and choosing the ‘New Private Window‘ option.

With input from Asian News International