14 DAY TRIAL // Mozilla's Do Not Track proposal, to enable users to opt-out of targeted advertising and behavioral tracking, has already made it in the latest Firefox 4.0 Beta 11. It's only been a couple of weeks since Mozilla proposed this approach and it seems like it didn't wait around for too much feedback, the feature is live and working, to a degree, in the latest Firefox 4.0 update.
Mozilla proposed that users would have the possibility to opt-out of targeted advertising from the browser. Technically, Firefox would make this preference known to any website in the browser header set to each request.
But for this to work, sites and advertising networks would have to actually comply, Firefox can't enforce this option in any way, which is where the main weakness lies and why it was important to have it implemented in some form as soon as possible.
"The Web is evolving quickly and so are the ways that your data is collected, shared and stored. With the integration of the 'Do Not Track' option into Firefox 4 Beta, you can now check a 'Do Not Track' box in the 'Advanced' screen of Firefox’s Options," Mozilla writes.
"When this option is selected, a header will be sent signaling to websites that you wish to opt-out of online behavioral tracking. You will not notice any difference in your browsing experience until sites and advertisers start responding to the header," it warns.
Last month, Firefox decided it was time to act on several proposals and discussions regarding user privacy related to behavioral tracking and targeted ads.
Basically, ad networks and websites keep track of users' actions, interests and preferences creating a profile for each user. This profile is then used for targeted ads catered to the individual needs and wants of the user.
In theory, this should make ads more relevant to the user, more profitable for ad networks and websites and more effective for advertisers - everybody wins.
Many people though are not comfortable with the idea that there are companies out there which keep tabs on their actions, know what movies they like, where they like to hang out and so on, without them being even aware of this or being able to do something about it.
Mozilla hopes that it can get advertisers on board, most big ad networks already have some means of allowing users to disable targeted ads. Google is also working on something similar though a bit less ambitious. Still, it's Mozilla's first attempt, the implementation and the approach may change, moving forward.