NO–and that is my answer.  I do not want to be tracked in any way or form–whether it be physically tracked or virtually, that just creeps me out.

But seriously, the spotlight is on Microsoft for their Do Not Track feature which will be set “on by default” when the Internet Explorer 10 becomes available to the public.  The Federal Trade Commission supports this as they are for protecting the privacy of the people but advertisers are against this.

Do not Track is meant for advertisers so they won’t know your web activity so they can’t push you annoying ads based on what you’ve been browsing on the internet.

The congress and the European Union supports Microsoft’s decision but more people see this as a unilateral decision that would disrupt the web balance.
During the latest face-to-face meeting regarding DNT, the World Wide Web Consortium or W3C, stated that one cannot impose a decision to a user; a user has the right to opt in or out of a feature.  So they came up with a possible solution that removes the default setting from either being on or off by giving them three choices: “A user has explicitly consented to tracking; a user has explicitly chosen not to be tracked; and, a user has expressed no preference”–meaning it is neither on or off which means a user may or may not be tracked depending on how the servers interpret their lack of preference and will be based on a user’s privacy expectations and cultural circumstances.

The solution may be in response to Robert Madelin’s, head of the European Commission’s Information Society and Media Directorate-General, letter to W3C which stated that, “The standard should foresee that at the install or first use of the browser the owner should be informed of the importance of their DNT choice, told of the default setting and prompted or allowed to change that setting.”

So until now, it’s unclear as to whether or not W3C would allow Microsoft’s DNT to be “on by default”.  Another face-to-face meeting will be held next month and though attendees are hopeful that a decision will be finally made, both sides aren’t about to back down.

Another issue regarding DNT is that, if it’s turned on, would it allow companies to use cookies to siphon information from user?  They’ve still got a long way to go before the standards, rules and policies of DNT would be finalized.  They’re still struggling and fighting over it, so tough luck on their next meeting.

Do not Track origins

In 2007, the FTC was asked by several consumer advocacy groups to create a DNT list for online advertising which would require online advertiser to submit their information to the FTC, who would compile a machine-readable list of the domain names used by those companies to place cookies or otherwise track consumers.  Then in 2009, researchers Christopher Soghoian and Sid Stamm created a prototype add-on for Firefox to implement support for the Do Not Track header.

Mozilla was the first to have the DNT feature on their browser, Firefox, but it was set “off by default” giving users the freedom to choose whether they want to be tracked by advertisers or not (who wants to be tracked by advertiser?!).  Soon after their announcement, other web browsers also pledged their support, like Microsoft who incorporated the feature in IE9 but it was off by default.

Yahoo! is one of the most recent DNT supporter when they announced that the feature would be available on all their web projects this summer but they didn’t say whether it would be on or off by default.  Chrome still doesn’t support this but  the feature will be incorporated later this year.

Advertisers’ POV

Advertisers would be the ones greatly affected if Microsoft would be allowed to ship IE10 with DNT on by default.  For one, targeted ads and real-time ads are what’s in.  They want to hit consumers with what interests them especially when they’re interested in them.  Targeted and real-time ads are more powerful since there’s a higher chance of getting people to buy the product or services being advertised a they are already interested and they just might be waiting for a good deal.

Eric Wheeler, CEO of 33Across who has the largest social graph in the world utilized by many of the world’s biggest ad agencies, over 600,000 publishers and more than 375 Fortune 1000 marketers, sees Microsoft’s announcement as not being pro-consumer but rather a unilateral act that could possibly doom SMBs.

“Microsoft’s default DNT implementation was a ‘unilateral act’ – one that is not whole heartedly protecting user choice,” said Wheeler.  “What they’re proposing will ultimately disenfranchise millions of small-mid size companies–mostly publishers whose primary revenue stream comes from behavioral advertising–that provide us with the majority the of the Internet’s free content. We would be left with only a small group of subscription-based online publications, and a free Internet experience would quickly become a thing of the past.”

33Across’ clients rely on their Brand Graph which gives them the insight on how individuals and networks around them react to what is read, purchased, shared, and recommended in real-time.  They’ve adhered to industry standards and have been praised for their efforts.  If Microsoft’s DNT would be on by default, they would be one of those who would receive much of the impact of the software giant’s actions.

“The tech industry–and advertising technology companies, such as 33Across, in particular–have always been dedicated to providing consumers with products and services that are of value to them. Industry self-regulation has been underway for more than two years and has been praised by Congress, the FTC, and The White House.  We very much have a vested interest in providing consumers with meaningful choices and control around the collection and use of their data,” Wheeler stated.

In the end, it’s a balance between the privacy that consumers expect and the type of useful marketing knowledge that advertisers can extract from customer behavior. With the consumer choice necessarily winning out where advertisers must ask first and track later; otherwise bad outcomes are forecast.