Unless you have had absolutely no access to technology news over the last month, it should come as no surprise that the release of Windows 8 had bottled up inside of it the latest and greatest version of Microsoft’s browser: Internet Explorer 10.
(For Windows 7 users, you will need to wait another month or so, before downloading this new version. For Windows XP users, you are completely out of luck.)
And, with the release of Internet Explorer 10 comes a ceremonial and celebratory cake sent to Microsoft, from the team over at Mozilla. Apparently, for years, there has been a friendly exchange of pleasantries between the rivals whenever a major release of either company’s browser software is underway. The release of IE10 saw a two-foot-by-two-foot-by-five-foot cake sent to the IE development team, where it didn’t last very long before being completely consumed.
The exchange between Mozilla and Microsoft ended very pleasantly, especially if you liked cake. It was not, however, the same story for the interaction with Yahoo!, where the release of Internet Explorer 10 was concerned.
In 2009, Microsoft announced that it would support a technology named, ‘Do Not Track,’ with Internet Explorer 9. Soon after, other browsers in the market, such as Firefox, Safari and Opera also supported this tech.
Basically, the ‘Do Not Track’ option is similar to the ‘Do Not Call’ registry that people who do not wish to be bothered by solicitors can opt in to have their number removed from the list. It works, apparently, with a simple HTTP header that is embedded in the message.
With the release of Internet Explorer 10, Yahoo! announced that it would not be supporting Microsoft’s enabling of ‘Do Not Track’ by default with this version of the browser.
From a Yahoo! policy blog on Friday, the company stated:
“Recently, Microsoft unilaterally decided to turn on DNT in Internet Explorer 10 by default, rather than at users’ direction. In our view, this degrades the experience for the majority of users and makes it hard to deliver on our value proposition to them. It basically means that the DNT signal from IE10 doesn’t express user intent.”
Yahoo!’s position runs parallel to the argument posed by the Digital Advertising Alliance:
“The trade associations that lead the DAA do not believe that Microsoft’s IE10 browser settings are an appropriate standard for providing consumer choice. Machine-driven do not track does not represent user choice; it represents browser-manufacturer choice. Allowing browser manufacturers to determine the kinds of information users receive could negatively impact the vast consumer benefits…”
Microsoft has countered with the statement that this privacy setting, just like so many others, can be disabled with the Express Settings available for IE10.
And, a further question is raised about the fact that the technology for the ‘Do Not Track’ option has not achieved any sort of standardized implementation, as of yet.
So, it is very possible, that even though the DNT option might be enabled in your version of IE10, a non-standardized code snippet could find some way around that setting and STILL adhere to the defacto technology, creating a rather uncomfortable situation for a regular browser user.