Mozilla's new feature pretends to protect privacy but promotes ads
Mozilla introduced the Firefox 128 browser update a week ago, featuring improvements for local text translation, UI, and DNS proxies. The changelog also included a note about Privacy Preserving Attribution (PPA), an experimental API that is enabled by default. This novel feature is designed to provide an alternative to user tracking for ad attribution. Mozilla has now provided a more detailed explanation of PPA's uses, but many users are dissatisfied with the new feature.
PPA: A non-invasive alternative to cookie-based tracking
PPA aims to set a fresh standard for web advertising and assist website developers in understanding ad performance without gathering individual user data. The PPA technology serves as a non-invasive alternative to cookie-based cross-site tracking, a practice that Firefox and other non-Chrome browsers have been blocking for years. The API operates based on "impressions" stored by Firefox each time a website displays advertising banners.
It ensures user privacy while providing valuable insights
All data collected by the PPA is encrypted, anonymized, and stored locally on the device. This approach provides advertisers with valuable campaign and e-commerce trend information while keeping user's privacy protected. Mozilla stated, "This approach has a lot of advantages over legacy attribution methods, which involve many companies learning a lot about what you do online."
Critics question Privacy Sandbox and PPA's true intentions
The introduction of PPA mirrors Google's Privacy Sandbox initiative, which aims to phase out third-party cookies used for cross-site tracking in Chrome and most Chromium-based browsers. Critics, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), argue that Privacy Sandbox is still an advertising-tracking technology that primarily serves advertisers' needs rather than enhancing web privacy. Similarly, Mozilla's PPA has faced criticism as another pro-advertising and tracking solution disguised as a privacy tool. Critics suggest that Firefox should make it an opt-in feature.
