Top admen beg Microsoft to switch off 'Do Not Track' in IE 10

Microsoft is in hot water with big-brand advertisers over its implementation of Do-Not-Track by default in the latest iteration of its Internet Explorer browser. The ad-slingers say Internet Explorer 10’s Do-Not-Track feature will hurt advertisers, consumers and competition.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) has published an open letter to Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer, senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith and chief research and strategy officer Craig Mundie opposing the fact DNT will be turned on by default in Windows 8’s browser.


The letter comes less than a month before Windows 8 is due to be released to the public on new PCs and tablets.

Rest of story here:


Another situation where I can understand both sides.
 
While I, on the other hand, have no sympathy for them whatsoever.
 

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The way I look at it, if something I am doing, makes a website organized better, faster, or more efficient than I am fine with it. It's not like I want them tracking me directly to sell me a product directly...but if Amazon were to change the way something on their website worked because 95% of the people went in and did Step1, Step2, and Step3...then I am all for it.
 

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It's conundrum. The ad people are getting more "evil" all the time, though they should be permitted some amount, there does have to be a way to pay for all the free stuff we do on line. Cross site tracking I do not think should be one of them.

But yes, also, the do not track feature on by default breaks some websites and will be a negative impact on IE10 on release. May cause a lot of people to move to FF/Chrome which do not have the feature or a watered down version that isn't as impactful. (I had to install FF for the first time EVER to get to a website just last weekend because I couldn't get IE10 to let me log into it)

So while Do Not Track is in theory a great feature, in practical terms it may not work out well.

P.s. I got an admin smackdown on seven forums some time ago for daring to even MENTION the feature in IE9!
 

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I find it amazing how people are more than happy to have the Internet without having to pay for the use of every site they use, yet are completely against the way it's funded.

Less ad revenue will only lead to a lower quality web experience.
 

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P.s. I got an admin smackdown on seven forums some time ago for daring to even MENTION the feature in IE9!
Yeah, hopefully people realize that I am not encouraging people to turn on this feature. I could see how that could possibly ruffle feathers. I don't even use IE, so the inclusion of this feature is a non-issue for me.

I find it amazing how people are more than happy to have the Internet without having to pay for the use of every site they use, yet are completely against the way it's funded.
Less ad revenue will only lead to a lower quality web experience.


Yep, I can see this from both sides. I would have 0 problems turning that feature off. Sites like this do in fact benefit and do get better and better over time. Keep up the good work.


 

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There should be some clear lines drawn to allow proper ad revenue without going overboard with the privacy invasion Sites like 7/8 forums seem to be benign, but other sites go freaking crazy, not to mention the millions of ad trap sites out there. Course trying to legislate such things itself is an even bigger nightmare than the problem itself :/

But it would be nice if there could be a consensual set of rules that both users, admins and advertisers could all agree on and let that be good enough, without inventing even more devious ways of getting into peoples affairs. Otherwise the future on the net is going to be truly frightening.

Ok, dear reader can stop laughing now :D
 

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A very touchy topic indeed. Like Parks said, I can see both sides.

I would guess most of the population doesn't know it even exists. So, to be fair, there should be a short tutorial to educate the user and then a choice given whether or not one wants it on or off. It should always be left up to the people to decide, not what an advertiser, MS, or anyone else to decide what is best for them.
 

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A very touchy topic indeed. Like Parks said, I can see both sides.

I would guess most of the population doesn't know it even exists. So, to be fair, there should be a short tutorial to educate the user and then a choice given whether or not one wants it on or off. It should always be left up to the people to decide, not what an advertiser or anyone else to decide what is best for them.

MS could do a lot more to inform there users, other than the almost impossible to use help menu. :p

Both sides are easy to see, but the matter couldn't effect too much.
IE8: :busted: "We're tracking you!"
IE10: :zip: "Where are you?"
 

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IMO, tracking (i.e. vacuuming up user's data) and advertising (i.e. displaying product/service info) are two different things.

Q - If tracking was banned would companies stop advertising?
A - Of course not.
 

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I personally don't have a problem with tracking or data mining that gives me advertising that is tailored to what I buy, rather than something I have no interest in whatsoever. I rarely even notice the ad content on a site but accept that it is a necessity to provide the free content I enjoy. Occasionally an ad will catch my eye for something that I am interested in, a new product or an update to an older one, so it is useful.
 

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Agree, it can be helpful.

I don't mind some adds, the bright flashing ones usually get the site closed quickly.
 

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IMO, if it's turned on, whether by default or not, it should be mandatory to comply.

I have very little time for advertising, but do realise that it is a necessary evil, and
do accept that most sites are largely financed by advertising.

And if I go to a specific website, I expect to see their ads, but only on their site.

I do not want them popping up somewhere else because I'm being tracked.

This is one reason why I dump cookies at the end of each session.

I also hate the pushy, in-your-face style of advertising that is so popular these days.

You know the ones, they appear and cover half your screen if your cursor goes within
2" of their 'hot-spot', or the video-ads that launch the minute the page loads, and can't
be turned off or skipped.

To me, they're the online equivalent of the 'Harvey Norman-style' TV ads where some
bloke gets in your face and talks very fast and very loudly, repeating himself often in
case you missed it the first time (as if). Or the tele-marketers and door-knockers that
plague us these days.

And, perversely, that type of advertising virtually ensures that I won't consider buying
their product.

IMO, anything that helps me to avoid unwanted advertising (and, to me, that's basically
all of it, whether online or off) is a good thing, and a company that defies my wishes re
tracking won't get my business either.


OK, rant over. Normal service will now resume.......
 

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LOL, Kat. Even I was relieved of resentment after reading your post!

I was reading news via Bing today on my Droid X2. I pushed a story and one of those popup ads appeared. When I Xed it out another appeared! Back button -> See ya!......
 

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I find it amazing how people are more than happy to have the Internet without having to pay for the use of every site they use, yet are completely against the way it's funded.

Less ad revenue will only lead to a lower quality web experience.

Disagree. If a person would never click on ads anyway, what is any internet site losing if their ads are disabled?

I hate internet ads, especially the annoying pop up ones that obscure whatever you are trying to read. Putting things in internet ads actually makes it less likely that I will want to purchase them.
 

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It is the way a lot of sites are funded.

You may not click on them - but plenty of people do.

Without that type of funding - many sites could not exist.
 

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No website is worth being tracked across the internet. I think it is a real problem that this is even considered acceptable/legal. Browsing habits are much like fingerprints. Advertisers always say this and that about aggregated data but if they wanted to, it is pretty easy to single out a user just through browsing habits.

Location, time of access, websites visited, average duration of visit, order visited, browser used, OS used, internet provided, IP address. All this data gathered each and every day and it will be a fairly easy task to pinpoint you with a good degree of accuracy.

Serve up the ads you want when I'm at your site. When I leave your site, this is when our business ends. When I buy a Whopper at BK, would it be okay for them to track me on my way over to McDonalds because they have better fries and their Coke tastes better for whatever reason? Maybe I take my meal over to a strip club (tube sites), do I need Burger King to know that?

Advertisers don't know when to stop. Look at the free for all in mobile apps. Developers think it's not good enough to just look at ads when you're using their apps so some of them use Air Push to actually give you notifications on your phone with advertising on it. This is on top of Location permissions, account permissions, contact permissions, read/write sms permissions, UID permission, etc. So here, have all my personal information and serve me ads disguised as text messages for your crummy flashlight app.

I visit a site maybe once or twice a week so they can set a tracking cookie that doesn't expire for 60 days? How in the world is that equitable?

Privacy is going to be the rarest of commodities in the foreseeable future.
 

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A very touchy topic indeed. Like Parks said, I can see both sides.

I would guess most of the population doesn't know it even exists. So, to be fair, there should be a short tutorial to educate the user and then a choice given whether or not one wants it on or off. It should always be left up to the people to decide, not what an advertiser, MS, or anyone else to decide what is best for them.

Amen, brother.
 

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I haven't seen an ad on the internet in almost a decade. I've been using FF with AdBlocker and NoScript for years. No banners. No ads. None of those annoying forced ads on YouTube.

And my cookies get deleted everytime the browser closes.

Ad companies can blow a bag of dongs for all I care. I have removed ads from all facets of my life (I ditched TV years ago and don't listen to the radio. Magazine ads? What the hell is a magazine?) and life still seems to go on for me.

/Crotchety Old Man Type Rant
 

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You miss a lot of ads if you don't have flash also. I block sites that irritate me, usually just in the hosts file. But like was said above, ads should not be retrieved from another site(like those surprise adult-ish ones that appear when you're downloading a minecraft mod for your kid.... come on guys!). Ads aren't at all important for the internet, people just started to rely on them and expect people to watch ads to see their cat pictures so they don't have to fund their own crappy web site.

If fact, I think I'm going to just go back and start a BBS, then I'll be the sysop and basically god. mwah hahahha
 

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