There's no denying it: most websites and online services depend on data collection, and in some cases they're really out of control. The folks at Mozilla have battled that trend for years, and in a short TikTok video they recommend three extensions that help improve privacy in any session.
Limiting Web Tracking, Mozilla Style
"We are the product." No matter if that phrase bothers you, or if some corners of the Web share mile-long explanations trying to refute its essence, at the end of the day we are indeed the product. The idea is that money changes hands, whether through a new service, an impulsive purchase, a trip... and they need to know more about us. Big Data doesn't feed itself, and any opt-in / opt-out possibility is on par with myths like Camelot or the Holy Grail.
Of course, all of this clashes with the need many platforms have to survive through advertising, but the Mozilla crew proposes an alternative: limiting the impact of widespread tracking with the help of three extensions.
The best part? They're not exclusive to Firefox; Chrome users (or any of its main flavors) can also take advantage of them.
Privacy Badger
The first time we talked about Privacy Badger was in 2016, and it was already at version 2.0. This extension from the EFF, available at Privacy Badger's website, is responsible for blocking invisible trackers by adopting the concept of remote learning, and receiving periodic updates that let it work a bit better with each new session.
Decentraleyes
The Decentraleyes extension works as a complement to other systems, blocking tracking requests from pages and preventing them from reaching third parties. In short, it's a CDN emulator that serves local files and avoids breaking web pages. Like Privacy Badger, Decentraleyes is fire-and-forget, needing no further configuration.
ClearURLs
The third extension recommended by Mozilla is ClearURLs, whose goal is to clean URL addresses, removing any tracking element present in them. ClearURLs works with a series of rules that update periodically, but requires a bit more care, since there is the possibility of breakage in some login systems if the URL is altered.
