Do Not Track

The do not track header is a proposed HTTP field that would request a web application to disable their tracking of a user. The "Do Not Track" standard was created by researchers at Stanford University and is under discussion in the United States Congress and the Federal Trade Commission. ^[1]

The header is not yet widely supported and has not yet been standardized.

The header accepts two values, 1 in case the user does not wish to be tracked (opt out) or 0 in case the user does (opt in). As of April 2011 it is supported by Firefox 4 and Internet Explorer 9, and will be supported soon in Safari.^[2]

How it works

When a web browser requests content or sends data using HTTP it can optionally include extra information called a "header". Do not track adds a header indicating that the user does not wish to be tracked.^[3] Currently, websites are not required to comply with do not track requests and therefore very few websites are implementing user's do not track requests. Congress hopes to pass new federal legislation requiring compliance with the do not track system.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b Daw, David (2011), "The State of 'Do Not Track' on the Internet", PCWorld, retrieved 2011-04-04
^ Nick Wingfield (2011), "Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to New Browser", Wall Street Journal, retrieved 2011-04-14
^ Do Not Track- Universal Web Tracking Opt-Out, retrieved 2011-04-11

External links

This Internet-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[Daw2011-1] Daw, David (2011), "The State of 'Do Not Track' on the Internet", PCWorld, retrieved 2011-04-04

[2] Nick Wingfield (2011), "Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to New Browser", Wall Street Journal, retrieved 2011-04-14

[3] Do Not Track- Universal Web Tracking Opt-Out, retrieved 2011-04-11

[1]

[2]

[3]