Download DynamicHistory for Firefox - Automatically erase and hide your browser history in Firefox for specific websites based on keywords of your choice or specific domains. Firefox Release February 23, 2021 Version 86.0, first offered to Release channel users on February 23, 2021 We'd like to extend a special thank you to all of the new Mozillians who contributed to this release of Firefox.
Download Firefox Extensions to add features that customize browsing. Protect passwords, find deals, enhance video, and block annoying ads with browser apps. Firefox guides you through an easy process to help you import your important personal data like cookies, browsing history, passwords and favorites (called Bookmarks in Firefox) from Microsoft Edge, saving you from having to configure many things yourself. From Firefox: Windows users: Press ALT + F to bring up the menu bar. Firefox was created by Mozilla as a faster, more private alternative to browsers like Internet Explorer, and now Chrome. Today, our mission-driven company and volunteer community continue to put your privacy above all else. Your privacy comes first.
We are pleased to announce that Firefox 87 will introduce a stricter, more privacy-preserving default Referrer Policy. From now on, by default, Firefox will trim path and query string information from referrer headers to prevent sites from accidentally leaking sensitive user data.
Referrer headers and Referrer Policy
Browsers send the HTTP Referrer header (note: original specification name is ‘HTTP Referer’) to signal to a website which location “referred” the user to that website’s server. More precisely, browsers have traditionally sent the full URL of the referring document (typically the URL in the address bar) in the HTTP Referrer header with virtually every navigation or subresource (image, style, script) request. Websites can use referrer information for many fairly innocent uses, including analytics, logging, or for optimizing caching.
Unfortunately, the HTTP Referrer header often contains private user data: it can reveal which articles a user is reading on the referring website, or even include information on a user’s account on a website.
The introduction of the Referrer Policy in browsers in 2016-2018 allowed websites to gain more control over the referrer values on their site, and hence provided a mechanism to protect the privacy of their users. However, if a website does not set any kind of referrer policy, then web browsers have traditionally defaulted to using a policy of ‘no-referrer-when-downgrade’, which trims the referrer when navigating to a less secure destination (e.g., navigating from https: to http:) but otherwise sends the full URL including path, and query information of the originating document as the referrer.
A new Policy for an evolving Web
The ‘no-referrer-when-downgrade’ policy is a relic of the past web, when sensitive web browsing was thought to occur over HTTPS connections and as such should not leak information in HTTP requests. Today’s web looks much different: the web is on a path to becoming HTTPS-only, and browsers are taking steps to curtail information leakage across websites. It is time we change our default Referrer Policy in line with these new goals.
Firefox 87 new default Referrer Policy ‘strict-origin-when-cross-origin’ trimming user sensitive information like path and query string to protect privacy.
Starting with Firefox 87, we set the default Referrer Policy to ‘strict-origin-when-cross-origin’ which will trim user sensitive information accessible in the URL. As illustrated in the example above, this new stricter referrer policy will not only trim information for requests going from HTTPS to HTTP, but will also trim path and query information for all cross-origin requests. With that update Firefox will apply the new default Referrer Policy to all navigational requests, redirected requests, and subresource (image, style, script) requests, thereby providing a significantly more private browsing experience.
Origin Firefox
If you are a Firefox user, you don’t have to do anything to benefit from this change. As soon as your Firefox auto-updates to version 87, the new default policy will be in effect for every website you visit. If you aren’t a Firefox user yet, you can download it here to start taking advantage of all the ways Firefox works to improve your privacy step by step with every new release.”