The issue of privacy is another factor looming over the browser industry, as our devices take in more of our personal information, and the mobile arena makes a personal stamp on our browser interactions.  Microsoft has been very garrulous when it comes to discussing its privacy stands, having mentioned several times that the company was going to incorporate a Do Not Track header as a “secondary mechanism” in IE9.  Microsoft has been praising its dedication to its “Tracking Protection Lists” in the new version of Internet Explorer as the best route for users to protect their online privacy right away, but up to this moment has not managed to integrate Do Not Track into IE9, but only into the HTML5 proposal.

Tracking Protection is the primary technical method in IE9 to help protect users from tracking. The final release of IE9 will also implement the broadly discussed Do Not Track User Preference (via both a DOM property and an HTTP header, as described in the W3C submission) as a secondary method.

Google’s stance has been somewhat shallow, considering that an influential means of approaching browser privacy concerns has been the ‘keep my opt outs’ capabilities of the Chrome browser. Opt outs is just a small way of protecting the privacy of users, however, as it is a quite futile tool of preventing online tracking.

What is most disappointing is Apple’s silence in the matter, which is not golden this time. Instead of keeping a low profile on submitting comments on the FTC’s privacy report, Apple should have step up in contributing to the ongoing discussions around browser privacy.  Its competitors were quick to comment on the FTC’s privacy report; Microsoft, Google, Mozilla, Facebook and Zynga expressed their view publicly, although none of them had actually managed to set a practical example.

Apple devices use Safari, a browser that blocks third-party cookies by default, meaning that consumers’ data is protected from advertisers’ use; when analyzing the impact of their ads, advertisers do browser cookie tracking, but Safari prevents them from accessing such data, biasing the results.

A study undertaken by Marin Software reveals that 80 percent of the time iOS devices don’t count paid-search conversions because cookie-tracking is turned off. The researcher went even further and compared Apple devices to Windows computers, finding that the perceived conversion rate of search ads is 56 percent lower because of the undercounting; the actual conversion rate is 23 percent higher.

The mobile field introduces a new world for consumers, businesses and eventually federal courts, to explore.  The widespread adoption of this consumer behavior will result in more privacy concerns, discussions and regulations. Microsoft is taking advantage of growing privacy concerns to better position its product.  With the new tools, Microsoft is addressing a few things that have been taking place in the industry lately.

The most notorious example is the Sears online feature that invited for $10 internet users to join their community, and tracked all their data even after leaving the Sears website. FTC dug into the matter and took legal measures for all the data, consisting mainly of shopping behavior, to be destroyed. Almost the same practice is undertaken by Facebook through it Like button, opening the way to an enormous quantity of valuable personal data.  They, too, are dealing with European regulators regarding this use of consumer data.