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Apple Adding "Do-Not-Track" To Safari

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the honor-system-will-work-fine dept.

bonch writes "The latest developer preview of OS X Lion includes a 'do not track' privacy feature in Safari, the latest browser to do so following Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Internet Explorer. The feature complies with a privacy system backed by the FTC that allows users to declare that they do not wish to be tracked by online advertisers. This leaves Google Chrome as the last prominent browser not to support the feature. As an online advertiser themselves, Google states that they 'will continue to be involved closely' with industry discussions about compliance with the do-not-track system."

3 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. fix safaris others.bugs first by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    slashdot still dosent work properly in iOS safari, leaving you not able to see all comments.

  2. Re:Chrome already supports "Don't be evil" by dzfoo · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, Chrome supports "Don't be (too) evil": It uses a "super cookie" to persist opt-out cookies. That allows subtle tracking (since the user has to actively opt out of sites, implying that he visited them) without actually tracking you, as you suggested.

    Safari, Mozilla, and IE9 support a blanket "do not track me" header, that gives away no information about your browsing, other than the fact that you do not want to be tracked.

            -dZ.

    --
    Carol vs. Ghost
    ...Can you save Christmas?
  3. Re:Chrome has a privacy mode by Haedrian · · Score: 4, Informative

    To summarise:

    "Privacy Mode" means "Do not store information about what I've been doing ON THIS COMPUTER"
    "Do not Track" means "Dear Advertisers, Do not store information about what I've been doing ON YOUR SERVERS"

    Large difference.