Los Angeles — In a novel turn of events, popular micro-blogging website Twitter has agreed to join other tech giants in the industry-wide “Do Not Track” feature in the Firefox browser, to the applause of privacy advocates, which Mozilla said Thursday continues to attract new users.
Twitter is the latest Web giant to support Do Not Track. However, that compromise may not be as difficult for Twitter to make than it would be for the social media humongous Facebook, which so far has resisted giving users the Do Not Track option. For one thing, it is not likely to have a negative impact on Twitter’s ad revenue.
Mozilla’s version of Do Not Track, which basically asks websites to let users opt out of tracking cookies, has so far been implemented on 8.6 percent of all desktop versions of Firefox, and 19 percent of Firefox Mobile, Mozilla said.
As a matter of fact, the highest percentage of users activate Do Not Track are located in the Netherlands, France, and the United States, Mozilla added.
Noting the moved, Ed Felten, chief technology officer at the Federal Trade Commission, announced today at an Internet Week privacy panel that Twitter will now stop tracking user data from those who opt-out. According to The New York Times, which was first to report on the news, Twitter’s tracking will be nixed with help from Firefox’s Do Not Track feature.
Carolyn Penner, a Twitter spokeswoman, confirmed the news via Twitter. “We applaud the FTC’s leadership on DNT.”
Moving forward, “Do Not Track,” theoretically, would allow users to completely opt out of being tracked by third-party websites. In Firefox, Do Not Track is a feature that allows you to let a website know you would like to opt-out of third-party tracking for purposes including behavioral advertising. It does this by transmitting a Do Not Track HTTP header every time your data is requested from the Web. Users will still see ads, but not ones geared specifically at the user.
If you are using Firefox, you can find the Do Not Track request on the “Privacy” pane, under “Tools > Options… > Privacy.” A user then needs to check the box next to “Tell websites I do not want to be tracked.” (See image below).
Firefox Do Not Track
Do Not Track has been met with both criticism and appreciation. The issue, according to critics, is that even if a user has the Do Not Track feature activated in their favorite browser, the only way it will work is if a Website also supports the technology. Privacy advocates, including the FTC, say that Do Not Track could be a fine way for Web users to control how their surfing behaviors are tracked. They also point to an increasing number of Web sites supporting the privacy measure.
Apart from condemnation and commendation, “Do Not Track” was introduced via an FTC suggestion for browsers in late 2010. Mozilla was the second browser developer to actually add the header to its code in late January 2011. Microsoft Tracking Protection was included in the release candidate of Internet Explorer 9, which was announced in February 2011.. Apple added Do Not Track to Safari in April 2011.
Moving forward, with Twitter now on board, Do Not Track has garnered the support of several prominent companies, including Yahoo, Google, and AOL.