Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to New Browser

Apple has added a Do-Not-Track tool to a test version of its latest Web browser that would potentially keep customers' online activities from being monitored by marketers. This tool is within Lion, a version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system that is currently only available to developers. The final version of this operating system is expected to be released to the public this summer. Mentions of this do-not-track feature in Apple's Safari browser began to appear in online discussion forums and on Twitter recently. Adding this feature leaves Google Inc. being the only major browser that has not yet committed to supporting a do-not-track capability in its browser, Chrome. A Google spokesperson said that the company will continue to be involved closely in industry discussions about do-not-track features. For now, they offer an add-on program for Chrome that users can download called, "Keep my Opt-Outs" that will let users request that their data not be used for targeted advertising.

Do-not-track tools in browsers automatically send out messages to websites and online advertising networks requesting that users' movements around the Web not be tracked. The system will only work if Web companies agree to respect people's tracking preferences. Apple's Safari browser currently accounts for approximately 6.6% of Web browser use on the Internet, while Microsoft's Internet Explorer accounts for 55.9% and Mozilla's FireFox accounts for 21.8%, according to estimates from NetApplications.com (a firm that tracks browser market share).  Of the four major browsers, Google's Chrome is growing the quickest. They have rose from 6.73% to 11.57% just this last April.

Representative Cliff Stearns introduced privacy legislation that would encourage these companies to offer more information about how their consumers are being track. They feel that they all have the right to know. The bill requires firms to create privacy policies that tell the consumers about the collection, sale, and use of their data. Currently, these types of Federal laws do not exist. The bill calls for the data-collection industry to develop a policing program that would be approved by the Federal Trade Commission.

Some people make it seem that this type of thing takes too much time and energy out of these companies to do, to simply be able to assure their consumers that they are safe and their information is not being collected. It really can't be that hard to come up with such tool. Especially when the benefits of doing so have to be so great, compared to what type of downfalls their might be. Everything has its pros and cons, but clearly adding the do-not-track tool would not only protect their consumers, but would almost guarantee the trust of their consumers, which should be most important.

Article Name: Apple Adds Do-Not-Track Tool to New Browser
by Nick Wingfield
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703551304576261272308358858.html