In the , Smith defended Microsoft's decision on IE10 and DNT, citing a survey the company commissioned that said 75% percent of U.S. and European consumers wanted DNT switched on by default.

(Smith's Oct. 23 keynote presentation can be found on the Microsoft website ( ).

Smith also urged all browser makers to "clearly communicate to consumers whether the DNT signal is turned on or off, and make it easy for them to change the setting," a reference to Windows 8's notice during setup.

Olds saw Yahoo's statement as giving it an out, noting that the explicit reason it gave was due to the lack of a clear and comprehensive standard, and that the company used the phrase "at this time" in its statement.

He predicted that Yahoo would get more attention, virtually all negative, for ignoring IE10's DNT preference than it had when it announced last March that it would .