“Apple Inc. has added a do-not-track privacy tool to a test version of its latest Web browser for keeping peoples’ online activities from being monitored by marketers,” Nick Wingfield reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“The tool is included within the latest test release of Lion, a new version of Apple’s Mac OS X operating system that’s currently available only to developers. The final version of the operating system is scheduled to be released to the public this summer,” Wingfield reports. “Mentions of the do-not-track feature in Apple’s Safari browser began to appear recently in online discussion forums and on Twitter.”
Wingfield reports, “The move by the Cupertino, Calif., company leaves Google Inc. as the only remaining major browser provider that hasn’t yet committed to supporting a do-no-track capability in its browser, called Chrome. Microsoft Corp. and Mozilla Corp. both offer do-not-track features in the latest versions of their Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers, respectively.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Sarah” for the heads up.]
Related article:
U.S. Senators propose ‘Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights’ to protect personal data – April 13, 2011
Why wouldn’t Google want this feature? (lol!)
Ummm, lets see… Google’s business model is based on… umm, trying to remember…. oh yeah TRACKING PEOPLE ONLINE!!
This is not new though, Opera and another browser that I use has this feature for some time.
It is a welcome developmen development nonetheless.
Google is not the only culprit in tracking internet viewers.
CGC
~Hurrah! Hurrah! I can now browse my pr0ns without worrying about big brother watching. You better believe it! ™ :-B
What! What is this you say! You don’t broadcast your pr0n habits to the world via Facebook?
You make Zuckerberg sad. 🙁
This is where Steve gets Eric.
Apple is hitting Google right where they live.
I may switch to Safari…
Firefox and NoScript blocking everything Google now. And the “new” Firefox…. i HATE it.
Safari runs faster than the others on my machine too.
And with the Ghostery extension, you can browse tracker-free now; no need to wait for Lion.
If this puts a stop to the cleft charity ads that I get when visiting Huffington Post and all the “Work from home” ads on Mac Daily News then I am all for it.
The no tracking option doesn’t ensure no tracking. Matter of fact, it’s voluntary for the websites. They can still track you like before, just that, they are now aware that you would rather they didn’t, and therefore the onus is upon them to VOLUNTARILY respect your wishes.
no tracking in 3 easy steps!!
1 on the menu bar open safari -> prefrences
2 go to security
3 disable java, javascript, and enable popup windows (don’t disable pugins, those are pretty much just quicktime videos and audio which can’t do anything to you)
Viola! you’v now saved your self from tracking and all kinds of other nastieness