Chrome to get Do Not Track privacy

Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer already have Do Not Track, Opera has just got it in an experimental build and now Google has announced that Chrome is to get it too. What is it?

Many companies want to track your activities on the internet. For example, websites want to know which pages you visit and this is fair enough. They want to know which pages are popular and which aren't. They can then change the pages that aren't popular and give you more of the ones that are.

The problem is that third parties also want to track you, such as online advertisers. They have ways of tracking which websites you visit as you browse the web and they keep logs of everything you do. It is this activity that many people object to and they don't want advertisers spying on their activities, knowing everything they do, everything they see, what their favourite websites are and so on. It is this third party tracking that Do Not Track targets.

A web browser that incorporates Do Not Track sends a message to the web server each time it accesses one to tell it that you don't want to be tracked by third parties. Unfortunately, this is just a polite request and currently there is no way that it can be enforced, but it is respected by reputable websites and advertisers and the number of supporters is growing.

It will take a long time to get to 100% acceptance of Do Not Track and for everyone to stick to it, but progress is definitely being made. Chrome will be the last browser to add it and it is isn't too surprising that Google has been dragging its heels because it relies so heavily on advertising and tracking people's use of the the internet. The company has come under pressure to add the feature partly from the general public, but also partly from changes to the law, or proposed changes. See The White House is pushing for new privacy codes of conduct.

While you are waiting for Google to add Do Not Track to Chrome, you can enable it in Firefox. Click the Firefox button in the top left corner and then Options. Click Privacy in the toolbar and then tick the box Tell websites I do not want to be tracked. In Internet Explorer click the gear icon in the top right corner and select Manage add-ons. Select Tracking Protection and then click Get a Tracking Protection list online. Choose one of the lists, such as Fanboy or EasyList.