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After 4 Years, W3C Unveils 'Do Not Track' Guidelines
Internet standards body the World Wide Web Consortium has published a first draft document setting standards for the implementation of browser-based Do Not Track requests - and invited comments over the next three months.
Justin Brookman, co-chair of the organisation's tracking protection group, says that where users have specifically turned on Do Not Track options in their browser, data collection would not be allowed either for market research or product improvement - in addition to the more obvious ad targeting. The only permissible purposes would be auditing, security, debugging and frequency capping.
The standard applies to cross-site tracking - where on browsing behaviour from one location is used to serve ads on another site - as well as to retargeting, and targeted follow-up by email and other means.
Although browser firms already offer a Do Not Track option, selecting this merely sends a signal to publishers and ad networks, who are not required to honour the request. Under the new proposals, they would have to respond to this signal with a specific answer saying whether or not they comply with the standard.
Jason Kint, CEO of the online publishers' organization Digital Content Next, told news site www.mediapost.com that the new guidelines stop ad companies arguing that they don't honour Do Not Track requests because there is no consensus on what it means. Kint said a broad rollout of do-not-track adoption probably will affect businesses that depend on tracking across sites, but won't have much impact on either large or small premium publishers.
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