Mozilla Firefox Launches SmartBlock Feature That Comes with Improved Private Browsing

Joen Coronel, Tech Times 24 March 2021, 09:03 am

On Mar. 23, Mozilla Firefox's newest version 87 acquired a feature that aims to give the users comfort during browsing. The feature called the SmartBlock is said to be an effective tracker blocking mechanism for the Strict Mode and Private Browsing of the popular browser.

SmartBlock Improves Privacy Experience of the Firefox Users

Mozilla Firefox Launches SmartBlock Feature Which Comes with Improved Private Browsing

(Photo : Screenshot from YouTube/Anthony Godinho)

Slashgear reported that the SmartBlock feature is geared toward providing the users with a "great web browsing experience" supported by heightened protection when it comes to their privacy.

Furthermore, the company said that assuring the privacy of its users is the most important thing during web browsing. This is because when a browser's privacy is weak, users will likely lose a lot of sensitive information, and when they leak, the user's security will be at high risk of being identified, altered, and used in many applications.

Since 2015, Firefox has already used the feature to promote its campaign on improved privacy. This includes the Content Blocking feature that can be used in Strict Tracking and Private Browsing modes.

Why is Firefox's SmartBlock a Special Feature?

In a blogpost by Mozilla, it was revealed that SmartBlock was useful in blocking third-party contents from passing the cross-site tracking organizations. The contents could be in the form of images, codes, scripts, and other media contents, which will later be reported by Disconnect.

It's understandable why Mozilla chose to enable this feature. Since companies take advantage of tracking the users' activity on the web, the feature will hinder them from gaining access to personal information.

However, in some cases, the risk of blocking important systems used by some websites can happen. If the mechanism blocks website components, the websites will most likely malfunction.

This could come in the form of slow or poor webpage loading, malfunctioning features, glitchy images, and other similar scenarios. Through the SmartBlock, the websites that need fixing will be selected without affecting the privacy of the users through the web trackers.

SmartBlock can construct stand-ins from the scripts of the third-party tracking system. For Firefox, the stand-in scripts will ensure that even though the websites' scripts are already blocked, they will still normally function.

The broken sites that depend on the original scripts will be allowed to be loaded. Through the SmartBlock script, third-party contents will not be permitted to load.

In this case, Mozilla guaranteed that the users would be safe during their web browsing since the third-party contents could not track the users anymore. Meanwhile, the scripts that help the third-party contents to track the users will not also be used.

Additional fixes and features of Firefox 87

According to Ars Technica, the newest browser version will also include the Highlight All feature. Furthermore, it now supports VoiceOver, the built-in screen reader of the macOS.

There are also small improvements, bug fixes, and major tweaks. To look for the full features, visit Mozilla Firefox 87 release notes.