23 June, 2011

Firefox 5 - Do Not Track!



Writer: Head Geek Furious

Mozilla has released a new version of Firefox that supposedly speeds up browsing and is supposed to help improve your ability to get dates on the Internet (I can't verify that, though). The update isn't huge and doesn't seem to be causing many add-on problems, unlike previous versions, but there is one addition to this browser that is a GAME CHANGER!

Firefox 5 is the first browser to include an option for all platforms to tell websites to not track your movements to and from a site. This is something many laypeople are not even aware of, but many sites collect information about how you got to their site and how you left it. So, if you came in from a porn site, your favorite Sesame Street site knows it. And if you leave that site by going to your favorite creeper stalker site, then it knows that too.

But now, at least in concept, Firefox 5 allows you to opt out of that tracking. But you would think that the developers would have put a gigantic button on the browser that says "DO NOT SPY ON ME!" In their infinite wisdom, they decided to hide it. But I am here to show you where it is.

Go to TOOLS (you will need to bring up the menu on your Firefox button, or enable the Menu Bar by right clicking on the top of the browser) and then OPTIONS and look at the pretty picture below: