Firefox browser to move ahead with ‘Do Not Track’ option

WP ^ | Wednesday, June 19, 12:02 PM | By Craig Timberg,

[DBCJR]

The maker of the popular Firefox browser is moving ahead with plans to block the most common forms of Internet tracking, allowing hundreds of millions of users to limit who watches their movements across the Web, company officials said Wednesday.

The decision comes despite intense resistance from advertising groups, which have argued that tracking is essential to delivering well-targeted, lucrative ads that pay for many popular Internet services. When Firefox’s maker, Mozilla, first publicly suggested that it might limit blocking in February, one advertising executive called it “a nuclear first strike” against the industry.

Widespread release of the blocking technology remains months away, but Mozilla officials spoke confidently on Wednesday about the growing sophistication of tools they are building to limit the placement of “cookies” in the browsers of individual users.

...

[Norm Lenhart]

I don’t want this to sound insulting but there is little way around it.

Considering that the NSA/Google hire the absolute BEST coders on planet earth to manage/write the tracking/infiltration codes for the WAREHOUSES filled with CRAY and similar super computers, trying to stop them with code written by glorified script kiddies available for free download is not sound thinking.

[Carriage Hill]

Also works on Opera:

http://adblockplus.org/en/opera

[RckyRaCoCo]

DD-WRT vs. Tomato?

Is one better than the other(especially for a novice)? I know it depends on the router, but what are the advantages/disadvantages of using these over stock firmware?

[rarestia]

DD-WRT for me. DD-WRT has been in development longer and has a larger support group, IMO. Admittedly, I’ve not played with Tomato.

Stock firmware limits what your router can do to what the vendor wants it to do. DD-WRT maximizes the resources to allow for QoS (Quality of Service), virtual WAPs, logging, and tighter security. Many of them support CIFS sharing if your router has a USB port.

The chance of bricking your router is non-existent if you follow the instructions to the letter. I’ve installed DD-WRT on no fewer than 50 routers in the last 2 years with absolutely no failures. If it’s supported, it’ll work.

[rarestia]

Agree on AdBlock Plus. It’s a must have. Also check out their pop-up blocker which is amazing for many foreign news sites.

[Vendome]

They should make a cookie dump that tosses trackers once you leave a site.

Better yet, they should should create TOR and VPN with like services.

Won’t fix the login issues but, will make the tracking of machines at or beyond the of”Edge” difficult

[Vendome]

Ah, hah.

You read my article.

[Black Agnes]

Did high tech for a living for years.

But, I did read your article and agreed with it.

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

This doesn’t stop the government spies, just the corporate spies who are doing much the same thing. I remember a long time ago, American Online was very big on intensely tracking its users and anybody who entered their Internet turf.

Since then, it has gotten out of control. So many corporations want to track you that it’s surprising you are able to surf the web at all. At the same time, anti-tracking has become an industry in and of itself.

Right now, I am using:

AVG Do Not Track (came with the free antivirus)
Adblock Plus (Firefox add-on)
Betterprivacy (Firefox add-on against “super cookies”)

Then at intervals I use:

Adobe Website Storage Setting Panel (control panel on website), against Flash cookies.

http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html

Malwarebytes anti-malware freeware.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

SuperAntiSpyware Free Edition

http://www.superantispyware.com/

or

Spybot Search & Destroy freeware.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

And finally, using registry repair software is a good idea, as after cleaning up and deleting a lot of bad stuff, there are often remnants polluting your registry.

[steve86]

I am not qualified to answer that although I did read a little about Tomato before installing DD-WRT. I needed custom firmware to run an adblocking script (of all things) for Goggle-TV browsing (Logitech Revue) which doesn’t support ad-ons in Chrome.

[Boogieman]

“one advertising executive called it “a nuclear first strike” against the industry”

Well, boo friggin’ hoo. I don’t think anyone really pays much attention to internet ads anyway. They are annoying, disruptive, and easily muted, skipped, or ignored, if not blocked entirely. These ad agencies are defrauding clients by saying the ad got 100,000 views, when they know those figures are grossly inflated.

[RckyRaCoCo]

OK, thanks for the information. I just picked up a cheap Belkin(model-F7D7302)for about $18, just for something to mess around with. Been having connectivity issues with an old Netgear WNR2000(v1)that(from what I’ve read anyway)does not support the alternative firmware. Might be changing ISP soon so wanted to hold off getting something newer/more expensive, for now.

[DBCJR]

Thanks. I have saved your info.

[Wuli]

there is a commercial product you can get for this now

it is “free” because its makers want to “protect” you by having you passed through their servers, from which you might get some ads placed in your browsers web pages, and you’d be given phony IP addresses, mutliple times before final destination, and then

THEY’d keep track of all that data on your Internet activity on THEIR servers

promising it will ONLY be used to help improve your Internet experience and keeping OTHERS (besides them) from tracking you

the come-on was pretty good, at first, and then the closer I got to a commitment the more I learned and the more I smelled a rat

then, as I backed out, I found their disclaimer that there were tools that some trackers can use to get past what that outfit would be doing to keep me “trackless”

and for that I should let THEM keep track of me and database the whole thing on their servers??? so that THEY can figure out how best to give me to the advertizing world instead of Google?? Nah.

[RckyRaCoCo]

OK, think I’ll be going with DD-WRT as well. Thanks.

[nascarnation]

Rielle Hunter without the hair dye?

[SuperLuminal]

Duckduckgo.com also advertises its privacy features"

Yep...fast and effective...Been using it for a couple of years...

[B4Ranch]

Is there any programs similar to MRU Blaster?

[PapaBear3625]

Under Options >> Privacy is a checkbox ‘Tell websites I do not want to be tracked’

This is only an unenforced request.

[Lancey Howard]

So... What does that “Do Not Track” box (from ‘Tools”) I’ve been checking whenever I logged onto Firefox for the past 2 years do?