Mozilla to Remove Do Not Track Feature from Firefox

With the release of Firefox 135, scheduled for February 2025, Mozilla developers will remove the Do Not Track (DNT) feature from their browser. According to representatives of the organization, most websites ignore DNT requests anyway. It’s worth noting that the Do Not Track feature is already absent in the Nightly build of Firefox.

What Is Do Not Track?

Do Not Track is a special HTTP header introduced back in 2009. It allows users to “tell” websites that they do not want their activities to be tracked. Interestingly, Firefox was the first browser to implement this technology.

However, both the use of DNT by users and the respect for this setting by websites are entirely voluntary. As a result, most modern websites ignore DNT, and many users are not even aware that this option exists.

Removal of DNT from Firefox Settings

“Starting with Firefox version 135, the Do Not Track checkbox will be removed. Many websites do not respect this indication of a person’s privacy preferences, and in some cases, it can even reduce privacy,” Firefox developers stated.

This refers to the fact that Safari dropped support for DNT back in 2019. At that time, Apple developers concluded that the Do Not Track feature could be used for covert tracking of users, since this setting could become a “unique identifier” for a browser and make fingerprinting easier.

What Should Firefox Users Do?

Mozilla recommends that Firefox users rely on the “Tell websites not to sell or share my data” option, which is available as part of Global Privacy Control (GPC). According to Mozilla, GPC is honored by a larger number of websites, and in some regions, compliance is even enforced by law.