Firefox 102’s NEW Privacy Feature Prevents URL Tracking — How ‘Query Parameter Stripping’ Works

Firefox 102 has a new privacy feature called Query Parameter Stripping, which prevents sites from tracking users of the web browsers through URLs.

The browser of Mozilla has already gone past its version 100, and now Firefox is on its way to its version 102.

Firefox 102’s NEW Privacy Feature Prevents URL Tracking — How ‘Query Parameter Stripping’ Works
(Photo : NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images)
A desktop screen at an office in Bangkok on June 25, 2013 displays the homepage for the Mozilla Firefox browser with a message for its users that says: "Security and privacy are not optional. Stand with a broad coalition to demand that the NSA stop watching us: stopwatching.us", which links to a petition to the US Congress to end NSA monitoring.

Firefox 102 Privacy Feature

While Firefox is no longer as popular as it was two decades ago, the team behind the Mozilla browser still works to make its privacy experience competitive.

As per a news story by Ghacks, the upcoming Firefox 102 update comes with an all-new feature that seeks to improve the privacy of its users.

The new privacy feature prevents various sites from tracking their users across the web by simply ditching the tracking parameters on URLs.

Ghacks notes in its report that the upcoming privacy feature first saw the light of day in the Firefox Nightly 96 update as it was still in its testing stage. This time, the Query Parameter Stripping is on its way to the stable version of the browser.

URL Tracking

According to a recent report by Bleeping Computer, URL tracking is prevalent online due to various websites using it to track their users across the web.

If we are going to be more precise, giant platforms like Facebook, as well as HubSpot, Marketo, and Olytics, have their own custom URL parameters, Bleeping Computer notes.

For instance, Facebook has its "fbclid" tracker, which automatically tracks all outgoing links of its users.

As such, when users click links outside the social media platform, Facebook could still track its users through this URL query parameter.

Bleeping Computer illustrates how the whole thing works. A website that is supposed to be https://expample.com gets an extended with the URL tracker, making it https://example.com/?fbclid=12.

Firefox Query Parameter Stripping

However, the new Query Parameter Stripping feature on Firefox 102 automatically removes URL trackers such as Facebook's "fbclid."

In turn, Firefox users would no longer be tracked using the custom URL parameters of various sites. Thus, improving their overall privacy.

Firefox 102’s NEW Privacy Feature Prevents URL Tracking — How ‘Query Parameter Stripping’ Works
(Photo : Josep Lago/ Getty Images)
People wait to attend the press conference of Mozilla's Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Barcelona on February 24, 2013, a day before the start of the 2013 Mobile World Congress.

Ghacks reports that the new Firefox privacy feature creates a long list of known URL parameters from giant sites like Facebook to block them altogether.

Read Also: Mozilla Firefox Combats Fake News by Removing Russian Search Engines

How to Enable Firefox's Query Parameter Stripping

There are two ways to enable the new Query Parameter Stripping on Firefox, one way is to open Private mode and the other route is by turning on the Enhanced Tracking Protection.

To enable it throughout your browsing session, go to Firefox Settings, then select the Privacy & Security option. From there, choose the Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection.

Related Article: Mozilla Releases Fixes for Firefox, Thunderbird Vulnerabilities Exploited During Pwn2Own Vancouver 2022 Hacking Contest

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