Are Firefox address bar entries tracked?
Just wondering if anything sought in the address bar (address or search term) is recorded and reported to Firefox or other parties by the browser itself, or by add-ons?
All Replies (3)
Nope.
You can never be sure what add-ons do unless you would check the code, but add-ons hosted on the AMO (Add-ons) website have been checked and shouldn't do this. There are of course extensions that offer to check whether a website can be trusted and such extensions usually check an online database. Firefox comes with phishing protection to check a website, but that uses hashes.
rg9370 said
Just wondering if anything sought in the address bar (address or search term) is recorded and reported to Firefox or other parties by the browser itself, or by add-ons?
Firefox doesn't send your browsing history to the cloud, except when you enable the Firefox Sync feature and share history with your other installations of Firefox. That information is encrypted so it's difficult for anyone who might intercept the information to read.
That said, nearly everything you enter into the address bar turns into a request that goes out to the network. That may be a query to your preferred search engine, or it may be to the site whose address you typed. That URL passes through Windows (and potentially any software installed on your system), your service provider (usually your cable/DSL company, or perhaps a coffee shop hotspot provider), and various intermediaries between your service provider and the destination site. The response retraces those steps in reverse.
The best way to keep this all as private as possible is to keep your system protected from malware, use add-ons and service providers you trust, and use HTTPS connections as much as possible. With an HTTPS connection, intermediaries can see the site you're visiting, but not the exact pages, images, or videos you read/view.
If you want to make your browsing more anonymous, you can use private windows with Tracking Protection, and consider using a VPN (virtual private network) service.
As an example of an add-on changing its behavior, the Stylish extension recently was acquired by a new owner that wants to use it to gather usage data. On Chrome, a new function was added that sends the URL of every page you visit to the new owner, and the user has to opt-out of this feature to avoid data collection. (On Firefox, Stylish remains the same as before the acquisition, and doesn't have this feature at all. People have said the Add-ons site review process wouldn't allow data collection by default, it would have to be an "opt-in" choice.)