2y ago

Why does Firefox add tracking parameters to Google searches?

It appears to add fewer than other browsers, but I'm not quite sure why it adds "?channel=fenc&client=firefox-b-1-d" to searches when only the q/query parameter is needed for them to work.

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As far as I know, these parameters are added by Google.
- They are part of the built-in search URL for Google:
  https://searchfox.org/mozilla-central/source/browser/components/search/extensions/google/locales/en/messages.json
  I don't know why channel shows as "fenc", though; I have no idea where that is coming from.
?channel=fenc&client=firefox-b-1-d”
where exactly do you see that?
edit:
now i see, i only have the client= parameter not the channel=
related:
https://www.reddit.com/r/firefox/comments/daztro/remove_client_query_param_from_google_search_urls/
https://superuser.com/questions/1439450/how-to-remove-client-firefox-from-google-search-query
- Thanks!
  Update: I have figured out how to remove the client parameter, though I'm still not sure why the channel parameter is there. Any idea what that's about?
I'm curious about this too. Are you using the "Strict" mode for the tracking protection in the settings?
- I am not at the moment, maybe I should try that.

7 comments