Firefox Do Not Track (Firefox DNT)
May 2nd, 2011 | By admin | Category: Search and DisplayFewer than 1% of Firefox users are taking advantage of the option to opt out of targeted advertising tracking according to a Privacy think tank. This data is corroborated by two of the larger ad networks who monitor the DNT signals. Is it a surprise that people aren’t using the Firefox DNT? Not really. Traditionally, opt out rates are pretty low anyway – either because people don’t know they exist or more probably because web users just don’t understand how web tracking works or affects them in the first place. Old direct response hands like myself might claim that this is people deliberately allowing their activity to be tracked in order to get the best web user experience – but I very much doubt that is the case.
The Future of Privacy Forum who produced this data make the point that opt out rates have traditionally been low, so there is no surprise here. So will ad tracking grind to a halt? Will web users be gliding unmolested by highly “targeted” ads and messages? Of course not. But, does this mean we should stop looking for better ways to serve appropriate and highly relevant content to users. No. The day when legislators insist that the default setting for DNT’s is “on” rather than “off” will come.
