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Standards group to bar IE10 from claiming 'Do Not Track' compliance

07.06.2012
Microsoft's decision to switch on the "Do Not Track" by default in Internet Explorer (IE10) will have to be rethought if the company wants to claim it supports the developing privacy standard.

On Wednesday, the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) standards organization reached a compromise on some aspects of "Do Not Track," the browser feature that signals whether a user wants online advertisers and websites to track his or her movements.

The new draft of the standard, which may be months from passing in final form, explicitly bars browsers from setting Do Not Track (DNT) on by default.

"An ordinary user agent MUST NOT send a Tracking Preference signal without a user's explicit consent," the draft reads ( ).

That seemed squarely aimed at Microsoft.

Last week the company announced with some fanfare that Internet Explorer 10 (IE10), the new edition to be bundled with Windows 8 and its tablet offshoot Windows 8, and to be made available as an upgrade on Windows 7, would set DNT on by default.