How to Use SmartBlock in Firefox 87 for Private Browsing
Firefox fans will want to install the latest version of the browser (87) as it has a brand new SmartBlock feature designed to replace potentially problematic web scripts with local copycat scripts. Meaning? To make sure the browser is correctly blocking website tracking without disrupting the website.
In other words, you get the best of both worlds: strong privacy protection with fewer errors that disrupt websites when your browser prevents certain scripts from running.
As Mozilla writes :
In creating these super-strong privacy protections in private browsing and strict mode, we faced a fundamental challenge: implementing a policy that completely blocks trackers on the Internet inevitably runs the risk of blocking components that are necessary for certain websites to function properly. This can result in images not being displayed, functions not working, poor performance, or even the entire page not loading at all.
While the company did not go into the details of SmartBlock’s technical details in its post, it notes that these “replacements” are related to Firefox: no actual third-party content is downloaded from the trackers at all, so there’s no chance. so they can track you this way. ” And naturally, the placeholders that your browser uses to replace the tracking scripts are themselves free of any tracking.
As a reminder, you will benefit from SmartBlock if you enable Strong Tracking Protection in Firefox. Open Firefox Options and click on Privacy & Security. From there, make sure you enable the “Strict” version of Enhanced Tracking Protection :
Remember that you did this too, because if the websites you visit continue to crash – even when SmartBlock is automatically turned on – you probably want to go back and set the Advanced Tracking Protection to Standard.
Other changes in Firefox 87 include new marks on the scroll bar when you use the browser’s “Select All” option in the search function. Plus, if you’re using Firefox on macOS, the browser now fully supports VoiceOver Reading Assist. You can see for yourself by enabling this feature in macOS System Preferences > Accessibility .