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A non-profit digital rights group has lodged a complaint with Austria’s data protection authority against Mozilla.
Vienna-based NOYB (None of Your Business), led by activist Max Schrems, has raised the alarm on the Privacy-Preserving Attribution (PPA) feature. It was tacked on to the browser back in July, activating a tracking tool to send data to advertisers without identifying specific users.
Enabled on Firefox 128 and subsequent versions, the feature acts as a repository to detail what site displayed a specific ad to a user. Once a person clicks through the ad, a “report” can be created by Firefox for the website.
Mozilla has not indicated what exactly is contained in the report, merely confirming it is “based on what the website asks.”
This could include user data, interaction data, and ad data, but a crucial issue for NOYB is that the tool is used by default with no warning given, or permission sought.
In response, a company spokesperson explained that “Mozilla’s limited test of PPA is a part of our effort to improve invasive advertising practices by providing technical alternatives,” adding the technique is prevented from identifying specific users.
🚨 Firefox quietly enabled a supposed “privacy feature” that tracks users – noyb files complaint today!
Read more here: https://t.co/DoVHAmP3KQ— noyb (@NOYBeu) September 25, 2024
How to ‘Turn Off’ the PPA Feature on Firefox
NOYB is resolute in its position that Firefox has not done enough on the issue, with a belief the feature violates the European Union’s GDPR rules.
If you are a Firefox user and you wish to cut off the supply of data on your browser activity, you can do so.
The Privacy-Preserving Attribution can be switched off by navigating to the main menu bar at the top of the page. Select ‘Firefox’, then follow ‘Preferences/Settings’, ‘Privacy & Security’, ‘Website Advertising Preferences’.
Within this menu, you can uncheck ‘Allow websites to perform privacy-preserving ad measurement’ to prevent Firefox forwarding your data.
