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Do Not Track

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 66.55.139.83 (talk) at 03:54, 22 February 2012 (Update list of supported browsers, credit to original creators of DNT, mention of W3C standardization process.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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The do not track header is a proposed HTTP header field that would request a web application to disable their tracking of a user. The "Do Not Track" header was originally proposed in 2009 by researchers Christopher Soghoian, Sid Stamm and Dan Kaminsky.[1] It is currently being standardized by the W3C.[2]

In January, 2011, Mozilla announced support for the DNT mechanism in its Firefox web browser.[3] Microsoft's Internet Explorer,[4] Apple's Safari[5] and Opera all later added support.[6] It is not supported by Google Chrome.[7]

The header currently accepts three values, 1 in case the user does not wish to be tracked (opt out), 0 in case the user does (opt in), or null (no header sent) if the user has not expressed a preference. The default is to not send the header, until the user chooses to enable the setting via their browser.

How it works

When a web browser requests content or sends data using HTTP it can optionally include extra information in one or more items called "headers". Do not track adds a header (DNT: 1) indicating that the user does not wish to be tracked.[8] The execution of this non-tracking directive can only be implemented on the part of the HTTP server, so its enforcement is effectively on the honor system. In this regard, do not track is similar to the Robots Exclusion standard, which provides a mechanism for HTTP servers to communicate to automatic web-traversing client programs whether those programs are granted permission to access the servers, but entirely relies upon honor and ettiquette on the part of the client for compliance.

Currently, websites are not legally required to comply with do not track requests, neither by law nor by broad social consensus, and therefore very few websites recognize and respect this privacy signal.

See also

References

  1. ^ Soghoian, Christopher. "The History of the Do Not Track Header". Slight Paranoia. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  2. ^ "Tracking Protection Working Group". W3C. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  3. ^ Angwin, Julia (2011-01-21). "Web Tool On Firefox To Deter Tracking". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  4. ^ Angwin, Julia (2011-03-15). "Microsoft Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to Browser". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
  5. ^ Nick Wingfield (2011-04-14), "Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to New Browser", Wall Street Journal, retrieved 2011-04-14{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  6. ^ Opera Desktop Team (2012-02-11), Core update with Do Not Track, and mail and theme fixes, Opera.com, retrieved 2012-02-10
  7. ^ Ryan Singel (2011-04-15), "Google Holds Out Against 'Do Not Track' Flag", Epicenter, Wired.com, retrieved 2011-09-01
  8. ^ Do Not Track- Universal Web Tracking Opt-Out, retrieved 2011-04-11
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