5 ms·

I've gotten into a habit of checking into all the performance boosts on Firefox release, but I almost missed the best feature of the release: Tracking Protecti

I've gotten into a habit of checking into all the performance boosts on Firefox release, but I almost missed the best feature of the release: Tracking Protection! It's buried under Preferences -> Privacy & Security -> Tracking Protection I've been using Privacy Badger for a while and today installed DDG's new Privacy Essentials. Does anyone know how the new Firefox feature compares to these other 2 options regarding 3rd party tracking across sites?

tomsmeding 9y ago
How is "tracking protection", as nice as it may be, a "performance boost"?
- gopalv 9y ago
  This is not the "Do Not Track", this is a block list from disconnect.me. If someone used a single pixel beacon, only mined referrers, that wouldn't be the case, but the additional javascript does cause performance issues.
- asadotzler 9y ago
  By not loading trackers, the browser is freed to spend all its resources loading actual content of the page. This speeds up page load by as much as 40%.
- bonsai80 9y ago
  Sorry for the confusion; I didn't mean to group those together. I meant that I'd lost sight of other nice features with all the excitement of Firefox performance lately.
- SimeVidas 9y ago
  Tracking Protection blocks network requests to domains that are identified as trackers. This means that tracking scripts don’t load (faster page load) and run (more responsive web page).
- Sylos 9y ago
  Paper detailling the "as much as 40%" figure that Asa Dotzler mentioned: http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_2015_submission_32.pdf http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_201...
e_proxus 9y ago
This was actually released already in Firefox 57 as mentioned in the "in case you missed it" section at the bottom of the new features list.
Sylos 9y ago
Tracking Protection uses the blocklist provided by disconnect.me. I haven't yet had time to look into DDG's Privacy Essentials, so can't comment on that. But Privacy Badger functions by having a more limited list out of the box and then while you're browsing, it's observing the behaviour of loaded scripts and such, and then dynamically blocks them, if they seem to be tracking you. So, in the long run, it catches more obscure tracking scripts, though there is also something to be said about it needing this time to understand that a script is tracking you. Then in addition, Privacy Badger also eats up cookies from trackers and blocks social media buttons (or rather replaces them with a non-tracking version). Tracking Protection is just a dumb blocklist, so if you are looking for an all-in-one solution, Privacy Badger is the better choice.

tomsmeding 9y ago

How is "tracking protection", as nice as it may be, a "performance boost"?

gopalv 9y ago
This is not the "Do Not Track", this is a block list from disconnect.me. If someone used a single pixel beacon, only mined referrers, that wouldn't be the case, but the additional javascript does cause performance issues.
asadotzler 9y ago
By not loading trackers, the browser is freed to spend all its resources loading actual content of the page. This speeds up page load by as much as 40%.
bonsai80 9y ago
Sorry for the confusion; I didn't mean to group those together. I meant that I'd lost sight of other nice features with all the excitement of Firefox performance lately.
SimeVidas 9y ago
Tracking Protection blocks network requests to domains that are identified as trackers. This means that tracking scripts don’t load (faster page load) and run (more responsive web page).
Sylos 9y ago
Paper detailling the "as much as 40%" figure that Asa Dotzler mentioned: http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_2015_submission_32.pdf http://www.ieee-security.org/TC/SPW2015/W2SP/papers/W2SP_201...

e_proxus 9y ago

This was actually released already in Firefox 57 as mentioned in the "in case you missed it" section at the bottom of the new features list.

Sylos 9y ago

Tracking Protection uses the blocklist provided by disconnect.me. I haven't yet had time to look into DDG's Privacy Essentials, so can't comment on that. But Privacy Badger functions by having a more limited list out of the box and then while you're browsing, it's observing the behaviour of loaded scripts and such, and then dynamically blocks them, if they seem to be tracking you. So, in the long run, it catches more obscure tracking scripts, though there is also something to be said about it needing this time to understand that a script is tracking you. Then in addition, Privacy Badger also eats up cookies from trackers and blocks social media buttons (or rather replaces them with a non-tracking version). Tracking Protection is just a dumb blocklist, so if you are looking for an all-in-one solution, Privacy Badger is the better choice.