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Apple Adds 'Do Not Track' Tool to Safari in Mac OS X Lion

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macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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134951-safari.jpg


The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has added a "do-not-track" privacy tool to the latest test version of their web browser Safari found in Mac OS X Lion.
The tool is included within the latest test release of Lion, a version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system that is currently available only to developers. The final version of the operating system is scheduled to be released to the public this summer. Mentions of the do-not-track feature in Apple's Safari browser began to appear recently in online discussion forums and on Twitter.
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Mac OS X Lion is currently in private developer seeding and is due to the public later this summer.

This "do-not-track" feature was originally proposed by the FTC and is a voluntary system in which web browsers broadcast this "do-not-track" preference but its up to advertising companies to actually comply with the request.
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 peoples' tracking preferences.
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According to the WSJ, major online ad networks have yet to agree on how to honor the system.

Apple's Safari is the 3rd major browser to support this initiative, following Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Mozilla's Firefox. Google's Chrome has yet to commit support to the feature.

Article Link: Apple Adds 'Do Not Track' Tool to Safari in Mac OS X Lion
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2011/04/13/apple-adds-do-not-track-tool-to-safari-in-mac-os-x-lion/
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macrumors12345

Suspended
Mar 1, 2003
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Hmmm...wonder why Google is the only one yet to add Do Not Track

Perhaps because over 95% of their revenue comes from advertising? I'm sure it's just a coincidence...
 
JoeG4

JoeG4

macrumors 68030
Jan 11, 2002
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518
I'd rather just use Firefox or something with that feature already there, instead of.. you know.. having to buy a new Mac. :p
 
Chip NoVaMac

Chip NoVaMac

macrumors G3
Dec 25, 2003
8,888
31
Northern Virginia
+1

As much as I don't like bigger government; we need regulations in place to make it work - but I forgot it is businesses that are now in control of our government - thanks SCOTUS! :(
 
D

DTphonehome

macrumors 68000
Apr 4, 2003
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Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

I'm sure Google hates this idea.
 
Consultant

Consultant

macrumors G5
Jun 27, 2007
13,314
34
Google Chrome "not yet" probably means never, because user privacy isn't in Google's vocabulary.
 
marksman

marksman

macrumors 603
Jun 4, 2007
5,764
5
I don't think people understand what a huge problem this is for advertising supported content going forward.

Not being able to track user movements from advertisements to company landing pages and so on, make advertisments virtually worthless. People opting out of such things will be cutting off their nose to spite their face.
 
I

Ieo

macrumors 6502
Jun 17, 2009
251
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I don't really think this has as much to do with ads as it does with harvesting your tendencies around the web and using that info to target ads or other super-annoying ****. Most people view it as an invasion of privacy and google should find a way to get along without it (They can still have ads....they just shouldn't be logging everything I do on the internet in order to attack me in my most vulnerable spots).
 
MacNut

MacNut

macrumors Core
Jan 4, 2002
22,995
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It should be a mandatory system not voluntary. If I don't want to be tracked they should have no choice but to comply. Same as the "do not call" lists.
 
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BigBeast

macrumors 6502a
Mar 6, 2009
643
39
Google, an advertising GIANT first and foremost, allowing people to opt out of being tracked and having all that good consumer data go to waste? I don't think so. Google is advertising- not sure how they could agree to this.
 
TuffLuffJimmy

TuffLuffJimmy

macrumors G3
Apr 6, 2007
9,022
136
Portland, OR
It's funny that people think company's like Apple add this feature to somehow benefit the user. This is just their way of stifling Google's advances.
 
S

strabes

macrumors regular
May 12, 2010
109
0
Chip NoVaMac said:
+1

As much as I don't like bigger government; we need regulations in place to make it work - but I forgot it is businesses that are now in control of our government - thanks SCOTUS! :(
Click to expand...

I don't want to start a debate but statements like these drive me crazy. Businesses control government because big government policies (like the regulations you suggest) encourage them to. If government doesn't have regulatory control of an industry, companies in that industry can't use government to benefit themselves. They must therefore compete based on their merits, not on who they know in Washington or the strength and number of their lobbyists. It's unfortunate that those who most deplore corruption support policies that create an environment in which corruption is inevitable.
 
Last edited:
cmaier

cmaier

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Jul 25, 2007
25,405
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TuffLuffJimmy said:
It's funny that people think company's like Apple add this feature to somehow benefit the user. This is just their way of stifling Google's advances.
Click to expand...

And how does Apple's opt-in policy for personal info with subscriptions stifle Google's advances?

sometimes Apple doing a good thing is just Apple doing a good thing.
 
6

617arg

macrumors 6502
Mar 3, 2008
298
22
MacNut said:
It should be a mandatory system not voluntary. If I don't want to be tracked they should have no choice but to comply. Same as the "do not call" lists.
Click to expand...

It should be but it's not - making this feature essentially worthless. Now, if Apple really wanted to make a statement, they would give the end user control of whether or not they want to be tracked - not leave it up to the honor system.......
 
iWonderwhy

iWonderwhy

macrumors 6502
Apr 3, 2010
268
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Probably going to have to wait until June at the WWDC to see Safari 6.0. I expect some substantial improvements to it, both interface and feature-wise, and WebKit2 implementation will be a plus. Will they finally take the plunge and put tabs on top :p? Only time will tell..
 
Spanky Deluxe

Spanky Deluxe

macrumors demi-god
Mar 17, 2005
5,282
1,746
London, UK
I'm not really too fussed about advert tracking to be honest. If I'm going to have to see adverts then I'd rather they be of stuff that's relevant to me.

I've certainly noticed recently that if I visit certain sites I'll get a lot more adverts for them pop up elsewhere. One of them is La Senza though so I can hardly complain.

Of course, it can go the other way. I spent an evening looking at endless pools, dreaming of what could be and am now reminded several times a day that I can't put one in our current house when I see adverts for them.
 
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