An effort by the privacy protesters to control tracking of Internet user’s surfing habits recorded a huge success last month when the software giant Microsoft revealed its new browser with “Do Not Track” as automatic setting.
But, some of the advertisers are protesting against this move; some websites are skirting the efforts of Microsoft and the dispute over online tracking and privacy is heating up.
The controversy roots from practices applied by marketing partners and websites to track surfing activity to be capable of delivering ads that are targeted at folks.
The ad industry claims that tracking is performed secretly without breaching privacy, but some state that it is very easy to link the person’s secret IP address or mobile to the actual person.
Mobile devices and websites make use of different software to decide a user’s surfing habits. Marketers can use this data for behavioral ads developed by keeping the user’s habits in mind.
For some cases, the electronic tags can estimate if a user is price sensitive, allowing retailers charge less or more for a particular service or product.
Privacy activists said that a mere Web search can make users as a main objective for marketers.
Many Web browsers permit customers to enable a “Do Not Track” feature, and Microsoft developed a new Internet Explorer 10 browser with this feature as automatic setting.
Brendon Lynch, Microsoft’s chief privacy officer said that they think the users should have extra control over how info about their online activities is shared, tracked, and used.
Advertisers see the concern differ differently, disagreeing that the software giant should not make the conclusion for consumers.
The Digital Advertising Alliance said to its members that they can override the automatic settings in other browsers or in Microsoft.
The alliance said that the trade associations, which guide the DAA, do not think that Microsoft’s new browser settings are suitable for giving consumer choice.
Machine-driven “Do Not Track” doesn’t signify user choice; it signifies browser-manufacturer choice.
Yahoo! has also disagreed with Microsoft by saying that it won’t identify the “Do Not Track” settings automatically.
Joe Barton and Edward Markey, who guide the House privacy caucus, conveyed their disappointment over the activities by Yahoo! and advertisers. The two lawmakers said that if the users want to be tracked online, they should opt-in and not in any other way. Some of the analysts are debating that eliminating all the online tracking might damage the economic model of Internet, which is indeed true to a large extent.