Web Browsers

Advertisers upset with Firefox for limiting tracking of users

The maker of the popular Firefox browser is moving ahead with plans to block the most common forms of Internet tracking, allowing hundreds of millions of users to eventually limit who watches their movements across the Web, company officials said Wednesday.

Firefox’s developers made the decision despite intense resistance from advertising groups, which have argued that tracking is essential to delivering well-targeted, lucrative ads that pay for many popular Internet services.

It should be the user’s decision. If they don’t mind, fine.

German government urges people to stop using IE

The German government urged the public on Tuesday to temporarily stop using Microsoft Corp’s Internet Explorer following discovery of yet-to-be repaired bug in the web browser that the software maker said makes PCs vulnerable to attack by hackers.

If you had any friends that cared about you, they’ve been urging you to do this for years.

Microsoft standing up for what’s right

Ed Bott:

When Microsoft shipped its Release Preview of Windows 8 in June, it announced that the default browser, Internet Explorer 10, would have the Do Not Track (DNT) signal enabled by default. That action unleashed a heated debate in the Tracking Protection Working Group of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).To the advertising and analytics companies that make up the tracking industry, this issue is an existential one. If the default browser in the world’s most popular operating system is set to disallow tracking, the effect would be profoundly disruptive to companies that live and die by their ability to follow users around the web.

Kudos to Microsoft for doing the right thing.

∞ Google Chrome for Mac exits beta

Google removed the beta moniker from its Chrome for Mac Web browser on Tuesday, indicating its ready for primetime. I’ve had Chrome installed for some time and use it every once in a while, but it hasn’t become my default. … Continued