Thread by @BleepinComputer

Instead of embracing privacy, Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Opera are going in the opposite direction by not allowing users to disable the click tracking feature called Hyperlink auditing in future browser builds.
bleepingcomputer.com/news/software/…

Previous versions of Safari allowed you to disable this feature through a hidden preference, but starting in 12.1, you are no longer able to disable it.

Chrome and Opera enable it by default, but current versions of the browsers allow you to disable it via a flag.

Starting in Chrome 74, this flag has been removed and there is no apparent way to disable the click tracking "feature".

Edge currently enables this feature by default, with no apparent way of disabling it. As the upcoming Chromium-based Edge is based on Chromium, it too will enable it by default and will not have a way to disable it.

Firefox disables it by default and future versions of the browser do not appear to enable it. We tested Firefox 66, 67, and 68 and it is disabled by default in all of them and continues to provide an about:config option to enable it if you wish.

Finally, even though it based on Chromium, Hyperlink auditing is disabled by default in Brave. It does contain a brave://flags option that shows its enabled, but is purely a cosmetic error. From what I have read, there are no plans to ever enable this feature in Brave.

Some have commented that Hyperlink auditing or "pings" are not commonly used compared to JS and redirect tracking. We were sent this image of it being used on a fairly well known site.