Firefox now blocks ads and trackers in Private Browsing mode

[bill]

Firefox Now Offers a More Private Browsing Experience [blog.mozilla.org]

We’re releasing a powerful new feature in Firefox Private Browsing called Tracking Protection. We created this feature because we believe in giving you more choice and control over your Web experience. With the release of Tracking Protection in Firefox Private Browsing we are leading the industry by giving you control over the data that third parties receive from you online. No other browser’s Private Browsing mode protects you the way Firefox does—not Chrome, not Safari, not Microsoft Edge or Internet Explorer.

[Kaszinky]

Is there a list somewhere, of domains being blocked? I found the hard way, that Adsense is blocked, does CJ, Amazon, eBay, and other affiliate platforms too? And what about other ad networks?

[tangor]

the short answer is anything that is third party (ie, does not originate on the landing site). If it does not load from your server/host, it will be blocked.

[Kaszinky]

OK, I understand. But what about the links themselves? Let's say I have a CJ text link. Someone clicks on it, will I still be credited for the sale? Or does Firefox's system will prevent this to happen too?

so if I use a CDN, or display images from another site, they will be blocked too ?

[tangor]

More info on the update, bug fixes, etc.

[theregister.co.uk...]

[RedBar]

Awesome, just how many people are going to know to click on that shield in the url on the top lhs?

And when they do and it states "Connection is not secure" ... how many will leave immediately?

An epic fail Firefox, back to Opera.

BTW Seamonkey, if you do this you will be deleted!

[RedBar]

And did you know even if you enable the ads that as soon as you leave to another site ... it disables them again!

Bye bye AdSense earnings from Firefox!

[RedBar]

Further to the above post, sometimes it goes back to enabled and sometimes it stays disabled, I haven't quite worked out why yet!

[RedBar]

It would seem that if you have already disabled it for a specific site it stays that way, any new site and it has to be manually done, again.

[RedBar]

Oh dear, and if one deletes cookies and history when closing the browser, everything has to be disabled again when opening anew, that's understandable.

Although the one good thing so far is that my favourite TV guide site is now usable again, it was so over-loaded with huge ads and videos I had to give it up.

[tangor]

Chuckles. Keep experimenting! The new FF add re: tracking/third party/ads is just catching up to NoScript and AdBlock and AdBlock Plus. Only difference is this capability is integrated at the browser level and requires no add-ons.

[Kaszinky]

The VERY big difference, is that with AdBlock and AdBlock Plus, text-only ads (including Google Adsense) can be displayed.

[creeking]

cynical me - how long until firefox takes a few dollars to whitelist certain ads?

[Kaszinky]

Mozilla claims Firefox blocks "only" code from sites which are tracking, so my questions is, does anybody know about Ad Networks which are considered "fair" by Mozilla? This could be the opportunity to give a try to smaller ad networks which have more ethical practices than big names like Google.

[mcneely]

Only difference is this capability is integrated at the browser level and requires no add-ons.

I mentioned somewhere a while back that 'one day, we'll see adblocking right along side pop-up blocking in the browser settings' --

It's only going to be a matter of time before other browsers start jumping on to the adblocking bandwagon ... Ad networks and their less than responsible publishers have no one to blame but themselves for this turn of events.

[RedBar]

Ad networks and their less than responsible publishers have no one to blame but themselves for this turn of events.

Yep, I've been saying this for quite some time now however I have to admit I had not realised just how bad it was until yesterday and today.

I've been checking out some sites that I had stopped using simply because of their slow loading and jumping around. Today I've been loading these sites one PC with FF42 and one with FF41 ... the tests have been breathtaking ... those slow loading, jumpy sites have been transformed into usable, fast loading sites just like they used to be.

I knew there was a big problem since I had stopped using those sites, the problem for these sites now is if I prefer this there is no need to ask what Joe Public will prefer, usability v almost non-usability.

Checking my logs for today I am already seeing FF42 being used and I can tell you that AdSense PVs are definitely down v actual PVs, one caveat is that maybe AdSense is behind with their stats, if not then this has already had a massive effect for my sites.

[nomis5]

a massive effect for my sites

Am I out of step? My stats show only 7.6% of users on Firefox. If a quarter of those had downloaded the new version and opted into the private browsing mode the effect would still be tiny. Am i missing something here?

[ergophobe]

First Apple and now Firefox. What do they have in common that Chrome and Edge do not? Answer, they do not depend on ads.

So now the investment that MS and GOOG made in browsers is looking brilliant.

Still, more and more people are adding ad blockers as browser extensions. I think that remarketing is about to enter into its own version of "Not Provided"

I have to say, now that I actually oversee some medium-sized ad campaigns and see how much retargeting happens, I went out and installed ad blockers and Privacy Badger.

[nomis5]

Interesting to see that the when I open a new tab in Firefox and get the Firefox "home page", the secure viewing icons disappear from the top left! One rule them and one rule for us seems to be the case.

[tangor]

Seems we all have different ways of doing the same thing. New tab for me is BLANK (ie, do nothing) and I like it that way. Which means there are no security icons, either.

[explorador]

Just updated, using 42 now but ads and adsense appear just right by default, anyway the hit is coming. Other browsers? This year installed Maxthon a few times and it blocked ads by default.

[codegeek]

My site is outdoor sports related and receives a lot of traffic from 18-45 year old males in the SF Bay Area. Although other areas are probably lower my stats may offer some predictive value.
My current users blocked 52.2% of my ads yesterday

I recently started using pagefair.com to see how much adblocking was affecting my revenue. I do not use any intrusive ads so I assume I'm just 'collateral damage'
Of all browsers 13.1 % use Firefox (1.53% of all visitors use v42)

.

[Kaszinky]

The new trick is, not to call things by their name. Firefox is not providing ad blocking, it provides tracking/privacy protection. And so do uBlock Origin or Ghostery. Like that, it's hard to attack them.

[RedBar]

So far 4 updated machine and so far all 4 have installed with protection enabled.

On a personal note I can tell you that I'm enjoying the ad-free browsing...whoops, there goes my AdSense what was left of it.

[not2easy]

Did you previously have "do not track" selected in your privacy preferences? If so that may have caused it to on by default. I have v. 42 on my laptop and the first window it opened after installing took me to their page about Private Browsing with a big button there to try it. I haven't tried it yet.

[codegeek]

I haven't figured out a way to engage the blocking features on v42 except when I' m in a private window.
Am I missing something or is it only available while private browsing?

[bill]

This is a private browser window thing. It's not available in the normal browser window.

[not2easy]

In OS, you can click in the Firefox Menubar on File > New Private Window so maybe there is a similar option for WIN?

[codegeek]

"This is a private browser window thing. It's not available in the normal browser window""
I came to that conclusion too which is fortunate since you have to make an effort and launch a private window each time.

After realizing I was losing about half of my ad revenue I instituted a solution that has been discused here in the past (disguising content as ads).

About 5%-6% have stopped visiting (or they uninstalled their blockers) but since now only about 5% of my ads are being blocked it appears that they have disarmed them for my site.

This indicates to me that I was correct in my assumption that I was 'collateral damage' and not the target of the blockers. Since a determined user can find a way around my solution I'll keep tabs on the blockage using pagefair.com

[RedBar]

Did you previously have "do not track" selected in your privacy preferences? If so that may have caused it to on by default.

Yes I did and I wondered whether that may have caused the protection.

I know one thing, I prefer using The Net with it on rather than off now, sites are not only so much cleaner but altogether many are much, much faster to load.