Chrome 17 beta Do Not Track (DNT) extension

A privacy advocate has developed a Chrome version of the Firefox Do Not Track extension (by adding the Do Not Track header “DNT: 1″ to all requests) technology that comes as standard on Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers. This extension (referred to as an ‘add-on’ in Firefox) lets you inform websites that you do not want your Internet behaviour tracked by advertising systems. I’ve no idea why Google has never built the DNT feature into Chrome. The only downside I can see right now is that the add-on currently only works with Chrome 17 beta.

Last year – February 11th, 2011, the US Congress passed a bill (Do-Not-Track-Me-Online Act) that would require online-tracking firms to allow citizens to opt out of tracking (see my Firefox and IE9 posts to find out more about cookie control). If they didn’t conform they would face heavy fines. Both Europe and the US have been focussing on how website cookies are being used – hence the introduction of these new laws although they are very different approaches. Read more...