Internet Explorer 10 To Enable "Do Not Track" By Default
Internet Explorer 10 To Enable "Do Not Track" By Default
Are you messing with us, Microsoft? For every controversial aspect of Windows 8 -- the Metro UI, limiting ARM users to Internet Explorer, et cetera -- you toss in something cool, like the new way the OS handles chkdsk operations. Today's tidbit brings good news that's a win for the little guy; by default, IE10 will have the "Do Not Track" opt-out signal enabled to keep white hat marketers and web masters from tracking users across the Net.
Do Not Track is a voluntary standard, so nefarious advertising networks can still ignore the request, but having it enabled by default in the browser that ships with the world's most popular OS is a major step forward for privacy advocates. (Conversely, it's a big step back for Internet marketers.) Virtually all major browsers include a DNT feature, but IE10 will be the first to have it running out of the box.
Oddly enough, Microsoft didn't tout the Do Not Track feature in its just-published look at web browsing in Windows 8 RP over on the mainstream Building Windows 8 Blog; instead, the news only popped up in a post on the Internet Explorer team's blog.
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