Firefox has long been known for its impressive and extensive protection features. It’s a direct rival to Google’s Chrome browser, but over the years, it didn’t see any user growth. Still, it is a household name in the catalog of browsers, and current users don’t seem to plan on leaving Firefox just yet.

With a new security feature, Firefox will become more strict and private because of its cookie managing feature. Most likely for users to restrict those they don’t feel safe using.

Total Cookie Protection: the new addition

The new addition in the Firefox browser is called the “Total Cookie Protection.” It is pretty straightforward, as it does the same thing as it’s named. Cookies that are the fragments of the creation of other websites and applications remain in your browser. And most of the time, they are being used by the future websites you visit.

They’re notorious for using cookies as a tracking device, and even if other tools permit this behavior, the Total Cookie Protection will blow all of them out of the park.

As per Mozilla’s statement, the feature works in a way that cookies are exclusive to one site. Meaning only those created by the ones you authorize can access it. In a fun way, Mozilla described what they were doing using cookie jars as a metaphor. This way, tracking and predicting your online behavior will be much more complicated. It is something that many websites have already been doing for years. And it is about time someone takes action to standardize a feature combating this issue.

Firefox focus on users’ security and privacy

Mozilla Firefox’s focus on user security and privacy is nothing unusual. The company is known to offer and utilize high-quality AdBlock add-ons and software that make their clients’ lives much easier and safer. Their AdBlock commitment and this recent feature addition are only some of the things they want to do as part of their extensive campaign of privacy-focused updates.

Image from Security Online Academy YouTube

While this feature isn’t new, Mozilla committing to it right off the bat is a big deal since Google has been pushing back its cookie privacy updates for over three years. They were supposed to ship an update that would eliminate the use of third-party cookies back in 2020. But it didn’t happen for some reasons, and now, they are promising the tentative year of 2023.

Mozilla emphasized how third-party cookies are used to take advantage of different people. For instance, Facebook is known for storing, collecting, and tracking data. Other websites use the data they collect by selling it to interested people that we don’t know the real plan is.

Marshall Erwin, Mozilla’s head of security, had an interview with The Verge and shared some of their insights about user security and privacy. According to him, Mozilla pushes data control to their users and not towards big internet corporations that tend to misuse such crucial information. If you feel like you’re not safe on a current website, now Firefox can help you be a lot more vigilant and protected.

In the meantime, this update is currently live in Firefox’s desktop client, but it might take some time to see it on the mobile platform.