---
title: "Web Privacy with Firefox"
url: https://perrotta.dev/2013/10/web-privacy-with-firefox/
last_updated: 2026-03-10
---


In this post I'll show you a taste of what you can achieve with the Firefox Web
Browser regarding privacy issues.

Motivated by PRISM, tailored ads, cookie tracking and several other inconvenient
annoyances from the 2013 web, I think we should be more alerted and conscious
about what companies are trying to do with **our precious data**. Maybe more
important than only consciousness is that we should **protect** this data and
act to do something about it.

The following is what I use (actually, what I'm trying to use) to "protect"
myself. I recommend you to adopt all or some of these settings.

## 1 - Startpage Search Engine

I've recently switched my default search engine from Google to **Startpage**.
Please don't get me wrong — I  love Google, but I decided Google is tracking way
too much of my search habits. Startpage uses Google as its backend engine, but
it does that in a way Google can't really link my searches to me. Besides,
Startpage doesn't store my IP Address.

If you want to definitively get rid of Google, try DuckDuckGo. You can integrate
Startpage with Firefox by following this guide.

## 2 - Adblock Edge

Add Adblock Edge to Firefox. It blocks nothing more than ads! I don't recommend
Adblock Plus anymore because it includes Google Ads by default. You can still
use Adblock Plus by opting-out of this feature, but I disagree that it is
enabled by default. It's like the Amazon ads Canonical includes by default with
Ubuntu.

I support some ads (like Reddit or Kongregate ones, for example) and I
understand the web wouldn't function right without them. However, I will not
tolerate ads I haven't requested getting in the way of my web experience. I
advise you to enable ads for services and websites that you like. Think
carefully about it — they may break if they don't get revenue from ads. Adblock
Edge is open source.

## 3 - Ghostery

Add Ghostery to Firefox. It blocks several tracking and analytics services and
URLs. You can be surprised to see how many tracking services are on popular
websites like WSJ. My Ghostery has blocked at least 10 of them there.

Note: Ghostery is **not** open source — it is proprietary.

## 4 - Self-Destructing Cookies

Add Self-Destructing Cookies to Firefox. It does exactly what you would expect:
it destroys cookies from a tab as soon as you close it. You can control which
websites won't have their cookies automatically destroyed. If you don't allow
cookies for websites you use often, you'll end up losing patience having to log
in again every time you close all their tabs.

## 5 - NoScript

Finally, add NoScript to Firefox. It is the wildcard of all these add-ons. You
can selectively control which websites (domains) are allowed to execute scripts
in your browser. You can block several malware vectors with it. If I had to
choose only one add-on to use with Firefox, certainly I would choose NoScript.

Be aware that NoScript can be annoying at first. By default, **all** scripts are
blocked, and you have to enable (add to its whitelist) the URLs you trust. You
can enable the reverse behavior too: allow every script and block only ones you
distrust (though this is a bit risky).

## Conclusion

This is a **basic** setup for someone who worries about web privacy. I won't say
it gets you 100% anonymous on the web because it doesn't. There are more ways to
get even more privacy (like Tor), but they're beyond the scope of this post.
Maybe I'll write another post about those goodies.

**Note**: This is my first English post. It may have typos or grammatical errors,
but I'm more focused on the content than perfection. If you spot any errors,
please let me know in the comments or via email. Thank you for your patience!