The EFF introduces new Do Not Track Standard to protect users’ privacy. The new DNT was requested by the FTC, the regulator of commercial practices in the United States.
What is the new Do Not Track standard?
Do Not Track is a preference that you can set on Chrome, Firefox or other Web browsers as well as in the FirefoxOS and iOS mobile operating systems to signal to websites that you want to opt out of tracking of your online activities. When the new option will be enabled, the browser will send an HTTP request to the sites stating that the user does not want to be traced.
Today tracking by advertisers is commonplace on the internet, and typically occurs without the permission of internet users.
The EFF introduces new Do Not Track Standard and Peter Eckersley, EFF Chief Computer Scientist, said in a blog post:
“We are greatly pleased that so many important Web services are committed to this powerful new implementation of Do Not Track, giving their users a clear opt-out from stealthy online tracking and the exploitation of their reading history. These companies understand that clear and fair practices around analytics and advertising are essential not only for privacy but for the future of online commerce.”
The EFF introduces new Do Not Track Standard and they have worked together with the search engine DuckDuckGo, Medium, the AdBlock and Mixpanel to create the standard. It was strange that Mozilla was not involved in this project.
The EFF introduces new Do Not Track Standard and according to them it is not an ad- tracker or ad-blocker, but it works in tandem with these technologies. The Electronic Frontier Foundation hopes that this new, stronger DNT standard will help them in protecting users’ privacy.