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Do Not Track
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Do Not Track
Do Not Track (DNT) is a deprecated non-standard HTTP header field designed to allow internet users to opt out of tracking by websites, which includes the collection of data regarding a user's activity across multiple distinct contexts, and the retention, use, or sharing of data derived from that activity outside the context in which it occurred.
The Do Not Track header was originally proposed in 2009 and was adopted by most major browsers within a few years. However, the header failed to find widespread respect among publishers, due to the lack of legislation requiring companies to support the DNT header and confusion about the header's meaning. The DNT header was abandoned by standards bodies such as the W3C. As of 2025, some browsers had removed the header, including Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox.
Following the failure of the DNT initiative, a coalition of US-based internet companies announced the creation of the Global Privacy Control header which is intended to have explicit legal force under privacy legislation.
The DNT header accepts three values: 1 in case the user does not want to be tracked (opt-out), 00 in case the user consents to be tracked (opt-in), or null (no header sent) if the user has not expressed a preference. The default behavior required by the document draft is not to send the header unless the user enables the setting via their browser or their choice is implied by the use of that specific browser.
In 2007, several consumer advocacy groups asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a Do Not Track list for online advertising. The proposal would have required that online advertisers submit their information to the FTC, which would compile a machine-readable list of the domain names used by those companies to place cookies or otherwise track consumers.
In July 2009, researchers Christopher Soghoian and Sid Stamm implemented support for the Do Not Track header in the Firefox web browser via a prototype add-on. Stamm was, at the time, a privacy engineer at Mozilla, while Soghoian soon afterward started working at the FTC. One year later, during a U.S. Senate privacy hearing, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told the Senate Commerce Committee that the commission was exploring the idea of proposing a "do-not-track" list.
In December 2010, the FTC issued a privacy report that called for a "do-not-track" system that would enable people to avoid having their actions being monitored online.
One week later, Microsoft announced that its next browser would include support for Tracking Protection Lists that block tracking of consumers using blacklists supplied by third parties. In January 2011, Mozilla announced that its Firefox browser would soon provide a Do Not Track solution, via a browser header. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9, Apple's Safari, Opera and Google Chrome all later added support for the header approach.
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Do Not Track AI simulator
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Do Not Track
Do Not Track (DNT) is a deprecated non-standard HTTP header field designed to allow internet users to opt out of tracking by websites, which includes the collection of data regarding a user's activity across multiple distinct contexts, and the retention, use, or sharing of data derived from that activity outside the context in which it occurred.
The Do Not Track header was originally proposed in 2009 and was adopted by most major browsers within a few years. However, the header failed to find widespread respect among publishers, due to the lack of legislation requiring companies to support the DNT header and confusion about the header's meaning. The DNT header was abandoned by standards bodies such as the W3C. As of 2025, some browsers had removed the header, including Apple Safari and Mozilla Firefox.
Following the failure of the DNT initiative, a coalition of US-based internet companies announced the creation of the Global Privacy Control header which is intended to have explicit legal force under privacy legislation.
The DNT header accepts three values: 1 in case the user does not want to be tracked (opt-out), 00 in case the user consents to be tracked (opt-in), or null (no header sent) if the user has not expressed a preference. The default behavior required by the document draft is not to send the header unless the user enables the setting via their browser or their choice is implied by the use of that specific browser.
In 2007, several consumer advocacy groups asked the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to create a Do Not Track list for online advertising. The proposal would have required that online advertisers submit their information to the FTC, which would compile a machine-readable list of the domain names used by those companies to place cookies or otherwise track consumers.
In July 2009, researchers Christopher Soghoian and Sid Stamm implemented support for the Do Not Track header in the Firefox web browser via a prototype add-on. Stamm was, at the time, a privacy engineer at Mozilla, while Soghoian soon afterward started working at the FTC. One year later, during a U.S. Senate privacy hearing, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz told the Senate Commerce Committee that the commission was exploring the idea of proposing a "do-not-track" list.
In December 2010, the FTC issued a privacy report that called for a "do-not-track" system that would enable people to avoid having their actions being monitored online.
One week later, Microsoft announced that its next browser would include support for Tracking Protection Lists that block tracking of consumers using blacklists supplied by third parties. In January 2011, Mozilla announced that its Firefox browser would soon provide a Do Not Track solution, via a browser header. Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9, Apple's Safari, Opera and Google Chrome all later added support for the header approach.
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