Privacy is something that everyone must take care of. Especially on the internet, where everything is somehow transparent.
Mozilla is removing a feature called canvas fingerprinting from Firefox, which allows user-tracking across multiple sites without cookies.
Firefox isn't the first browser to implement fingerprinting protection. The browser is taking cues from Tor, the anonymity-focused browser that has offered this protection for years.
Popular for browsing the dark web, Tor was built using a modified version of Firefox code. And Mozilla is implementing this privacy feature, which have been proven successful in the Tor browser, and brings it to mainstream Firefox users.
By blocking canvas fingerprinting, Firefox simply allows users to block any trackers, just like Tor.
Alongside the update, Mozilla developers also create tools to help users get control of their data, or at least show them how much is out there.
One such tool is Data Selfie, created by Mozilla Fellow Hang Do Thi Duc, which give users the kind of information they're giving to Facebook..
Canvas fingerprinting is a devious, cookie-less way of tracking users on the web using HTML5 canvas element. Available in all major browsers, it allows websites to extrapolate the browser users' data. Without asking for permission, the feature can track users across multiple websites using unique identifiers.
To fingerprint users, a website users are visiting, sends code to the browser that draws an invisible element on the page they are viewing. Then the users' hardware makes variations in that element that make it fairly unique. The result is then hashed (converted into a string of characters) and stored.
This data can then be shared with other websites.
The feature is practically useful for advertisers and websites. But for users who opposed to having their data commoditized, canvas fingerprinting is certainly a big no.
Previously, Firefox users need to install an extension to prevent unwanted browser fingerprinting, such as Electronic Frontier Foundation's Privacy Badger or Canvas Defender. But with Firefox in bringing the feature baked inside its browser, it's becoming the first of the major browsers to do something about canvas fingerprinting.