Firefox 69 is out and blocks tracking cookies and cryptominers by default

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Mozilla released Firefox 69 and this version blocks third-party tracking cookies and cryptominers by default. Improved protection against third-party tracking was already in version 63, but now the cookies are blocked by default.

Mozilla speaks of a milestone in making stronger, actionable privacy protections available to everyone. The so-called Enhanced Tracking Protection feature first became available in June and blocks known tracking cookies based on a specific list. Mozilla says it has extensively tested this feature. Currently, more than 20 percent of Firefox users use this option, but Mozilla expects that to increase to 100 percent with the release of version 69. A shield icon will appear in the address bar to indicate that Enhanced Tracking Protection is working. This symbol also allows users to check which companies and cookies are blocked.

Another innovation in Firefox 69 is the default function that blocks cryptominers, so that they can basically not access the CPU to make crypto coins. An option for this was already in previous versions of FireFox Nightly and Beta. In addition, users can now block scripts that take snapshots of the computer’s configuration when a website is visited. To prevent this form of tracking, this feature must be enabled first; Mozilla says it plans to enable this fingerprint protection by default at a later date.

Firefox 69 also removes the always-on Flash plugin option. This means that the browser will ask users for permission before displaying Flash content on a website. Unlike Chrome, Firefox is still an npapi plugin; that’s outdated technology that carries risks, even though the Firefox plug-in runs on 64-bit Windows in a sandbox since version 62. Starting early next year, Mozilla will discontinue full Flash support for consumer versions of Firefox. Adobe will stop security updates from January 2021; Flash will be end-of-life from then on. Firefox 69 is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Android.

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