Yesterday, Mozilla announced three new experimental features through its Test Pilot program, one of which will have a serious impact on the privacy of Firefox users, if approved.
The Test Pilot program is available as a Firefox add-on that allows users to enable experimental features in their browser. This way, Mozilla runs tests for upcoming features and collects user feedback and real-world telemetry data
The latest addition to this program is an option that allows users to enable a privacy- called Tracking Protection.
Currently, this feature is only available in Firefox's Private Browsing mode and works by blocking known sources of tracking scripts, such as ad networks.
Mozilla is using the Test Pilot program to test and see how Tracking Protection would work if the option were available for all tabs in that browser, and not just those opened in Private Browsing.
“This experiment will help us understand where Tracking Protection is causing disruption so we can improve it for all Firefox users,” said Nick Nguyen, Vice President of Firefox Products for Mozilla.
That's why, in addition to the Tracking Protection button that turns the feature on and off, Mozilla will also include a feedback feature, which users can use to let Firefox developers know where Tracking Protection is causing them trouble.
Of the seven features available in the Firefox Test Pilot program, this one has the highest chance of being approved, if testing does not reveal any significant bugs.
