Third-party cookies are often placed on different websites by advertisers to keep track of the users’ activity online. This is done to help the advertisers dish out targeted ads. Thankfully, Firefox 22 will be blocking all such third-party cookies.
Third-party cookies can be annoying in more than one ways for the users. First, they allow advertisers to keep an eye on the surfing patterns of the users, something which is done without the explicit permission of the users. Secondly, if the data gathered by these advertisers is somehow compromised and falls into nefarious hands, it can be used to wreck a lot of damage.
To avoid this, a number of browsers have already started blocking third-party cookies. One example is that of Apple’s Safari browser. And now, a new patch that has been contributed by a researcher at Stanford allows Firefox 22 to also block such cookies. According to reports, this patch will be incorporated in the browser by the time it is released.
Over the recent years, authorities have also expressed concerns towards third-party cookies enabled by advertisers. Since then, some advertisers have agreed to give the users a greater control over such cookies by allowing them to opt for ‘Do Not Track’ list. However, most advertisers have been reluctant in doing so and thus, they continue gathering user information unabated.
The move by the Mozilla team is encouraging. Although Firefox 22 is still due to be released in the future, it is good to see it would be equipped with better features. It is also hoped that other browser vendors take a lesson from it and implement similar blocking of third-party cookies.
Source: Mozilla
Courtesy: Ars Technica
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