Privacy group touts new Do Not Track system

Privacy advocates said Aug 3 they have developed a way to encourage websites to honor “Do Not Track” requests that allow users to ask websites not to collect data on them. Under a proposal by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the privacy company Disconnect, websites will post a copy of their tracking policies online. If it matches EFF policies, participating ad and tracker blocking software will then make an exception for the website. In theory, this will give website owners a reason to participate in the program by displaying their ads to users who would otherwise block them.

The program includes blocking software provided by Disconnect and the EFF, as well as the popular tool provided by AdBlock. Peter Eckersley, the EFF’s chief computer scientist, said that the participating blocking tools have between 50 million and 100 million users. He said that the group has also had “private conversations” with other ad blocker providers. Participating websites include analytics service Mixpanel, the publishing platform Medium and the alternative search engine DuckDuckGo. Eckersley said that the websites have “meaningful incentives” to honor Do Not Track requests for the first time.