Tech

Firefox to show ads to users based on their own browsing histories

Firefox is taking the next step in browser advertising, and they will be leveraging the unwitting help of users to do so. The new in-browser advertising from Firefox will be known as Suggested Tiles. 

What it does is simply take a look at the browsing history of a specific user, and based upon what it is there, that information will then be relayed to advertisers who will in turn create the Suggested Tiles containing the corresponding ads.

The Suggested Tiles feature will pop up whenever a user opens up a new tab, according to Engadget.

Mozilla, the company behind Firefox, has already vowed that the new feature will not be peeking into any specific user's personal data or any other kind of third party information. They have even said that users will be given the option of turning off the feature if they want to.

The new program is currently in beta testing, but if everything goes off without a hitch, Suggested Tiles should be a part of the browser before the end of the year.

Mozilla has also commented on the state of digital advertising, suggesting that the lack of transparency with regards to how other companies gather data to send to advertisers is not exactly all that proper, according to PC Mag.

This may be the company's way of indicating they are more open than their competitors when it comes to how the advertising game works.

This is not the first time Mozilla has implemented a significant change to the way they do advertising. In 2014, the company launched Directory Tiles as part of their efforts to draw in more advertisers, according to Computer World.

The Directory Tiles are slightly different because they present users with random ads instead of ones based on the browsing history.

Suggested Tiles is set for beta testing as early as next week.


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