Yahoo! Refuses To Recognize Internet Explorer 10's Do Not Track

Back in 2009, Microsoft announced support for Do Not Track in Internet Explorer 9. Soon after, DNT support was added by Mozilla, Apple, and Opera to each company's respective browser. With Internet Explorer 10, Microsoft has DNT enabled by default. Yahoo! doesn't like this move, and released a statement that it will ignore the browser's DNT signal.

Do Not Track is a technology aimed at addressing privacy concerns that lets Internet users opt out of being tracked by websites. Do Not Track is like the Internet version of the Do Not Call registry, according to donottrack.us. DNT works via a simple HTTP header, and is the by-product of a collaboration by several advocacy groups, tech companies, and researchers.

In the announcement, Yahoo! stated that it supports DNT "in principle," and that it is working with partners to create an opt-out standard for users. It followed this by stating that Microsoft's unilateral decision to enable DNT by default in Internet Explorer 10 makes it "hard to deliver on our value proposition" to users. As a result, the company says that it will still offer Ad Interest Manager and related tools, but will not recognize the Microsoft browser's DNT signal on its properties.

Yahoo! is working with W3C in the pursuit of a Do Not Track standard that, it says, is in line with user expectations and an optimal Internet experience. "Ultimately, we believe that DNT must map to user intent — not to the intent of one browser creator, plug-in writer, or third-party software service." W3C recommends that DNT be an opt-in preference.

[via Yahoo! Policy Blog]