Microsoft Drops 'Do Not Track' Default in Browser

cio-today.com ^ | Jennifer LeClaire

[Captain Peter Blood]

I recently switched over to Firefox and could not be happier. Runs a lot better than IE, at least to me.

[W.]

Consider using these Mozilla add-ons. They will make your browsing experience better. No ads, no tracking, no self-starting blather...

Adblock Plus
Self-Destructing Cookies
Flashblock

Open Tools, click add-ons and search on the names. Unless you already have them, of course. ;)

[Captain Peter Blood]

Thanks, I will check those out.

[minnesota_bound]

#22 Plus all these.

Classic Theme Restorer’ brings back appmenu button, squared tabs, add-ons bar, small nav-bar buttons, a few older buttons and more to Firefox Australis UI. Use ‘Customize’ menu to move buttons on toolbars.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/aris-t2/?src=api

Tab Mix Plus
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/tab-mix-plus/?src=userprofile

Screengrab
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/screengrab-fix-version/?src=userprofile

Image Zoom 0.6.3
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/image-zoom/?src=userprofile

Nosquint
https://urandom.ca/nosquint/

[Scutter]

Re-read my post. that was my point...

[rarestia]

IMHO, Ghostery does a terrific job of tracking blocking.

It does, but Ghostery only blocks tracking programs and scripts. Those scripts can remain latent in a browser session and "follow" you.

The "Do Not Track" option in most modern browsers is a flag provided to a web provider that essentially asks that they not pay attention your ingress and egress with their site. It's a gentleman's agreement, nothing more. There's nothing to stop a site operator from tracking your IP ingress and egress from their site. They know from where you came and to where you're going when you leave their site. Do not track just "asks" that they not catalog your information. It does not need to be heeded.

[trebb]

The "do not track" flag is strictly advisory anyway. I doubt anybody actually pays any attention to it.

I use it, but you are correct - when it comes down to it, there is not much real utility in "keeping others from knowing who/where you are.

Plus, it makes it harder to get to the real local weather, etc., by keeping the useful sites from knowing (or at least acknowledging they know) my location.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I didn't mean that users didn't use it. I meant that I doubt that many websites pay any attention to it.

If you want to black trackers, use Firefox with Ghostery.

[W.]

Good stuff, love the customization level of Mozilla’s browsers with all the add-ons. A far cry from Netscape 3, heh!

[upchuck]

What is your solution?

[rarestia]

To what? This is a fact of IT life. I can go into any of my network devices, proxies, web servers, and I can tell you all of the inbound and outbound connections. What they do with that information is up to them. The “Do Not Track” option was put in as a “feel good” measure. There are no legal teeth behind the request. Most coders are honoring the request.

I just leave the option turned off or set to “not configured.” Otherwise, they’re just getting another piece of information from you, even if it that information is useless.