Subj : Firefox's new anti-fingerprinting protections cut user tracking b
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Nov 11 2025 14:45:08

Firefox's new anti-fingerprinting protections cut user tracking by 70%

Date:
Tue, 11 Nov 2025 14:38:16 +0000

Description:
Mozilla Firefox is burning off your unique browsing fingerprints to stop 
websites from tracking you.

FULL STORY
======================================================================Mozilla 
Firefox is making it harder for sites to track 'fingerprints' Digital info 
such as your hardware specs are collected by websites This info can then 
track user activity even in private browsing 

When using a web browser , it's typical for websites to ask for your 
permission to use tracking cookies to gather data on your browsing habits, 
usually with the option to opt-out. 

However, fingerprints are much harder to block than cookies, and websites can 
track your activity using your devices hardware specifications, time-zone, 
and other information provided to improve site performance and functionality. 

If these details are assembled into a profile, they can track your browsing 
habits even in private browsing mode - but Mozilla Firefox is now introducing 
fingerprinting defenses it says can cut unique identifiable users by around 
70%. Burning off fingerprints 

The new protections have been introduced as part of Firefoxs Enhanced 
Tracking Protection service in Firefox 145 . 

The protection is currently only available in the browsers Private Browsing 
and Enhanced Tracking Protection (ETP) Strict modes, but testing in these 
environments will soon see the protection expanded to regular browsing in the 
future. 

Many websites run invasive scripts that gather information on your browser 
and device that can be used for tracking, and the scripts will often even run 
if you reject cookies. 

These scripts will hoover up metrics such as browser version, operating 
system, screen resolution and color settings, system language, fonts, time 
zone, GPU rendering behavior, CPU cores, touchscreen capabilities, and your 
device memory. 

Enhanced Tracking Protection already offers an array of anti-fingerprinting 
measures. Since 2021, Firefox has been incrementally advancing fingerprinting 
protections, covering the most pervasive fingerprinting techniques, Mozilla 
stated. These include things like how your graphics card draws images, which 
fonts your computer has, and even tiny differences in how it performs math. 

In order to hamper other fingerprinting techniques, Mozilla has introduced 
new mechanisms such as adding random noise to background images when they are 
read back by the site, forcing the use of standard OS fonts (apart from 
language fonts), and obfuscating touch support, screen resolution, and number 
of processor cores. (Image credit: Mozilla) 

These new protections can reduce the number of uniquely fingerprinted users 
to just 20%, down from over 60% of users that can be fingerprinted without 
any protections. Unfortunately, it's unlikely that any browser would be able 
to drop that number to 0%, as many websites rely on fingerprintable 
information for key website features and functionality. 

Via BleepingComputer



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/firefoxs-new-anti-fingerprinting-protec
tions-cut-user-tracking-by-70-percent


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