Firefox to Serve Up Ads Based on Browsing History

Mozilla is ready to expand its Firefox advertising efforts, and it will use your browsing history to do it.

The company has been testing different ad options for its browser, adding company-sponsored tiles to blank tabs last year in an effort known as Directory Tiles. Now, Mozilla is prepping a "complement" to Directory Tiles, dubbed Suggested Tiles, which will serve up ads based on your Web history.

If you navigate to PCMag.com, for example, on Firefox, you might see a tech-related ad in one of the sponsored spots when you open a new tab.

Mozilla says it does "not retain or share personal data, nor are we using cookies." (This rather complex infographic explains how it works.) Users can opt out with two clicks, or edit their browsing history to alter results.

In a blog post about Suggested Tiles, Mozilla bemoaned the current state of digital advertising and its lack of transparency regarding how people's data is collected and distributed to third-party networks. A video (below) further argued that Suggested Tiles will help "foster transparent conversations with brands" (whatever that means), but it basically comes down to figuring out the easiest way to make money without irking your users. "We believe users should be able easily to understand what content is promoted, who it is from and why they are seeing it," Mozilla said.

Starting next week, Mozilla will release Suggested Tiles to the Firefox beta channel, and it's expected in the stable version by summer.

"Initially, users will first see 'Affiliate' Tiles advertisements for other Mozilla causes and Firefox products before Suggested Tiles from our content partners appear," Firefox said. "Note that we'll be rolling out the product in phases starting first with Firefox users in the U.S."