The Federal Trade Commission, which called for a Do Not Track Button two years ago, will enforce the effort.
An international standards body is working to develop a consensus agreement on the definition of Do Not Track by June.
Do Not Track would not be a list that you sign up for, and it would be more granular in application.
FORBES: How Would a 'Do Not Track' Mechanism for Online Privacy Work?
However, the agreement which was announced at the White House last month has been mired in debate about what "Do Not Track" means.
The 14% who do not track nor plan to track transaction data?
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The Digital Advertising Association, which represents more than 400 companies, said it is pushing ahead to implement its definition of Do Not Track.
In the US, regulators are urging internet companies to have a "do not track" system in place that gives consumers more control over their personal data online.
And when Microsoft polled some of its U.S. and European consumers, 75 percent of them said they wanted the company to turn on Do Not Track for them.
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As envisioned by the Federal Trade Commission, Do Not Track would be an option you would select on your browser a feature you could turn on and off.
FORBES: How Would a 'Do Not Track' Mechanism for Online Privacy Work?
While earlier this week, the FTC published a 57-page report of privacy recommendations which included the addition of a "do not track" system intended to give us more control over our online data.
Thomas Rosch dissented from the vote approving the report, in part because he said "it is not clear that all the interested players in the Do Not Track arena" will be able to agree on a definition.
Consumer Watchdog, which describes itself as a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, voiced concern that the Do Not Track effort would undercut a plan from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to create a strict Do Not Track standard.
Since the blueprint for a so-called Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights was unveiled Thursday, which included Do Not Track technology for web browsers, there has been a wide range of reaction, from praise to dire warnings.
At the same time this program rolled out, Twitter also announced support for Do Not Track (DNT), which if enabled in your browser settings, will prevent Twitter (and other websites) from collecting the information that enables this feature.
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Two days after that, Google announced its intention to build a "Do Not Track" option into the Chrome browser, giving users some shielding from a different type of rampant surveillance -- the type that creepily delivers knowingly targeted ads.
It would be a good thing if there were legislation to make such transparency required and to penalize online companies that don't honor "Do Not Track" buttons on Web browsers, but I doubt we will get it from this Congress.
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In addition, the White House said in its news release, companies including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL, are committing to act on Do Not Track technology in most major web browsers to make it easier for users to control online tracking.
Last month, the FTC notched a win for its guideline approach when the online-advertising industry voluntarily agreed to one of the main privacy recommendations: the development of a "Do Not Track" mechanism that would let users limit Web tracking using a single setting in Web browsing software.
Having do not track as the default, a default that we all know most people will stick with, thus means that all of the complicated work that the advertising industry has done to increase the performance of internet advertising becomes, for those users at least, near irrelevant.
FORBES: Microsoft Sticks With Do Not Track Default: And Boy Are The Advertisers Angry
Coincidentally, also in May, Microsoft announced that the "Do Not Track" (DNT) feature will be turned on by default in the next version of Internet Explorer. (Many browsers already have it, but it's off by default.) In addition to being a browser setting, "Do Not Track" is an initiative proposed by the Obama administration, similar to "Do Not Call" for unsolicited phone calls.
The anticipated add-on, along with similar tools already included in the Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft IE 9 browsers, leaves Google Chrome as the only major browser provider not to offer a do-not-track feature.
Google is expected to enable do-not-track in its Chrome Web browser by the end of this year.
Mr. Ingis said that the industry will continue that approach while it's in the process of adopting the do-not-track system.
These bodies do not even keep track of what information they send each other, reducing the chances of catching fraudsters.
Microsoft is in hot water with big-brand advertisers over its implementation of Do-Not-Track by default in the latest iteration of its Internet Explorer browser.
FORBES: Microsoft Sticks With Do Not Track Default: And Boy Are The Advertisers Angry
The latest salvo over do-not-track should also be seen in the context of the fight over the next big prize in tech battles: the cloud.
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Speaking for the industry, Stuart Ingis, general counsel for the Digital Advertising Alliance, said the decision to adopt do-not-track is an "evolution" of the industry's approach.
Some critics said the industry's move could throw a wrench in a separate year-long effort by the World Wide Web consortium to set an international standard for do-not-track.
It is expected to call for the industry to develop a so-called do-not-track tool that people could use to remove themselves from online surveillance by marketers and others.
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