Do not track header

HTTP
Persistence · Compression · HTTPS
Request methods
OPTIONS · GET · HEAD · POST · PUT · DELETE · TRACE · CONNECT
Header fields
Cookie · ETag · Location · Referer
DNT · X-Forwarded-For
Status codes
301 Moved permanently
302 Found
303 See Other
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found

The do not track header is a proposed HTTP header field that would request a web application to disable their tracking of a user. The "Do Not Track" standard was created by researchers at Stanford University and is under discussion in the United States Congress and the Federal Trade Commission.[1] On March 7, 2011, a draft proposal was submitted to IETF.[2]

The first major web service to implement the feature is The Associated Press. According to the company, "it only took a few hours for one engineer to implement."[3]

The header accepts two values, 1 in case the user does not wish to be tracked (opt out) or 0 in case the user does (opt in). As of June 2011 it is supported by Firefox 4 and higher[4][5], Internet Explorer 9 and Safari (as of Safari 5.1, it's hidden in the Develop menu).[6] It is not supported by Google Chrome.[7]

Contents

How it works

When a web browser requests content or sends data using HTTP it can optionally include extra information called a "header". Do not track adds a header (DNT: 1) indicating that the user does not wish to be tracked.[8] Currently, websites are not required to comply with do not track requests and therefore very few websites are implementing users' do not track requests. Congress hopes to pass new federal legislation requiring compliance with the do not track system.[1]

See also

References

External links