Firefox 22 will block third-party cookies by default

Shawn Knight

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Mozilla will soon be taking a page from Apple’s book and implementing a feature in Firefox 22 that will allow the browser to block advertising cookies from third-parties by default. If you aren’t already aware, Cupertino’s Safari browser has shipped with this feature for some time now. The same technique is already possible with the current version of Firefox but users have to enable it manually in the Options menu.

Jonathan Mayer, the Stanford graduate that’s responsible for the new functionality, says the collateral impact should be limited due to the fact that Safari’s desktop and iOS browser has implemented a similar cookie policy for more than 10 years now. He said that a few websites may require a small code change to accommodate Firefox in the same way they do with Safari.

As you can imagine, advertising executives aren’t exactly thrilled about the news. Mike Zaneis, senior vice president and general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, published a response on Twitter saying the default setting would be a nuclear first strike against the ad industry.

It’s unclear at this point when exactly we can expect to see the feature arrive as a final release but given some basic math, we can narrow it down somewhat accurately. The current version of Firefox for desktops is 19 and we are told cookie blocking will first arrive in version 22.

What’s more, the update will spend roughly six weeks in pre-alpha, alpha and beta before it’s ready for the big show. Based on this information, we probably shouldn’t expect to see Firefox 22 for another 4-5 months at the earliest.

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Block those tracking cookies.. You can use MVP HOST replacement, IOBIT Male-ware Fighter Free has a cookie guard with real-time protection. You can manually clear your system with Super Anti-Spyware Free. and also get Spyware Blaster.
 
Well it's going to be no surprise, the ad industry is upset. They just got another door in the face, in the form of third party ads blocked by default. I'm sure they have a major beef against AdBlock and such, not like it can stop anyone from blocking such ads. There's some ads I can tolerate, and then it becomes insanely annoying.

I have to say that honestly I used to whitelist some sites, until their ads got too intrusive and became impossible to ignore. I'm sure many Twitch users can agree, ads are becoming more bothersome. All just to push people into their new service. If there's a nice way of supporting someone / something, I'll do that but ads pushed in my face isn't ideal.

This is suddenly like Korea (no offense to Koreans), where ads become more bold to get noticed. To the point that people take action, in the form of blocking ads usually. The whole idea of doing that online, in a website where it's already limited space I slap em with ABP.
 
Just tracking cookies are bad, there are cookies that are needed for your sites that you use and those are considered good to keep. I do have software from JetClean Free that keeps only the cookies I need and ditch the other ones that shouldn't be on their.
 
BlueDrake they are not blocking the ads themselves, they are just blocking the functionality to track your browsing history and send you ads targeted as such. This means they cant charge/pay so much for ads anymore
 
Again you can block all these tracking cookies and good job Firefox will do it by default now..
 
Mike Zaneis, senior vice president and general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, published a response on Twitter saying the default setting would be a nuclear first strike against the ad industry.
Another mushroom cloud that I will find amusing.

It irritates the piss out of me to do a search while helping someone on-line, and then find ads plastered over every website I visit advertising the very thing I was searching for. You know, I'm not personally interested in the item. I was only offering what little help I can provide.
 
My advice is to fire anyone who is still freaking out about cookies. There are many other ways to track you. And to be honest I want relevant advertising. Why would I prefer getting ads that are for girls products or something like that.
 
Why would I prefer getting ads that are for girls products or something like that.
Come now. Why be so selfish? Perhaps one day you might want to buy something for someone else not just yourself. ;)
 
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