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Microsoft Reaffirms Default Do-Not-Track For IE10, Windows 8 Express Setup
Billly Gates writes "Microsoft has confirmed that Internet Explorer 10 will have Do-Not-Track settings enabled by default. IE 10 comes with Windows 8, and will go release candidate for Windows 7 very soon, according to Anne Kohn in a comment in IE's blog. During Windows 8 setup, users who choose the 'Express' option will have DNT on by default, while using the 'Custom' option will give them the chance to change the setting, if they want. IE 10 already has a score of 319 in html5test.com, while MS is trying to position IE as a great browser again. Will this pressure other browsers such as Firefox and Opera to do the same?"
When Microsoft began talking about this in May, it touched off quite a debate at W3C about whether browsers should have DNT turned on by default or not.
HTTP header to request "opt out" of any tracking on websites you visit.
i.e. will be ignored by just about everyone by default anyway, and even when you "opt out" you can still be tracked by most websites in the world, and turning it on or off will have virtually zero visible effect to the user so you'll never know even if the website "accidentally" tracked you anyway.
Worthless, ill-designed, junk.
Wow! A score of 319 is really impressive!
Wait hang on.
* Chrome 22: 442
* Chrome 21: 437
* Opera 12.50: 409
* Firefox 14: 345
Sure its better than IE 9, but a modern browser it is not.
Doesn't even come close to stable Firefox.
It won't screw Google over. The most relevant legislation with regard to DNT is the EU directive which says you must not track a user if they express a desire not to be tracked. However, if the header is sent by default, then Google can convincingly argue that the user has not expressed this desire. If, however, it is off by default, then this argument would be nonsense because the user must have explicitly enabled it.
I would love to see it as a setting with no default and a prompt when you install the browser, so that every user must make a conscious decision to either be tracked or not be tracked.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
You are missing the point of the header. It is something that is sent along with the initial HTTP request that expresses the user's desire. By itself, that's all it does. It can, however, be used in later legal proceedings. In the EU, for example, tracking someone after receiving an explicit opt-out is illegal. If someone can prove that you are tracking people who do not wish to be tracked then you are liable for large fines.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
And in Europe we tend to see privacy as opt-out rather than opt-in.
Are you living in the same Europe as me? Where your cars are regularly tracked by ANPR. Where many states have compulsory ID cards. Where communictaions companies have to install boxes to collect data for the government"
Not much "opt out" there.
And, in the meantime, give trackers that don't support DNT on the backend (like Microsoft) an temporary advantage over those that do (like Google.)
The system depended on the advertising industry thinking that adhering to the voluntary system was at least as good of a deal as what they'd get under a regulatory regime, since the whole purpose of the voluntary system was to stave off threats of regulation.
Its unlikely that the industry would see a an opt-in requirement imposed in a regulatory regime, though an opt-out requirement would be quite likely. It therefore makes no sense for the industry to prefer an opt-in voluntary scheme, though an opt-out voluntary scheme is certainly worthwhile.