Internet Explorer 10 to Have 'Do Not Track' as Default
IE 10 is the first browser to have DNT enabled by default.
Yesterday, Microsoft officially announced the availability of Windows 8 Release Preview. After three months of Consumer Preview, the company was ready to release the final pre-release version of Windows 8. Understandably, the fact that Windows 8 had hit RP got a lot of attention from the tech press and blogs. However, this also meant that another important thing was somewhat overlooked: The fact that Windows 8's IE 10 will be the first browser to have 'Do Not Track' turned on by default.
However, it seems the ad industry isn't too pleased with the move. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Digital Advertising Alliance (of which Microsoft is a member) says Microsoft's decision to ship IE 10 with DNT activated by default is contradictory to what the Alliance agreed with the White House back in February. WSJ reports that the industry agreed to honor "do not track" as long as it is not a default setting. Stu Ingis, general counsel of the ad group, said Microsoft's decision was concerning and highlighted the group's position on supporting consumer choice as opposed to the choice of the browser company.
On the flip side of things, Chief Privacy Officer at Microsoft, Brendan Lynch, spoke about the decision yesterday and described it as part of Microsoft's effort to advance trust and consumer privacy online.
"We've made today's decision because we believe in putting people first. We believe that consumers should have more control over how information about their online behavior is tracked, shared and used,"he said, later adding that the company hopes consumers will make the conscious choice to share this information for a more personalized experience.
"Online advertising is an important part of the economy supporting publishers and content owners and helping businesses of all shapes and sizes to go to market. There is also value for consumers in personalized experiences and receiving advertising that is relevant to them."
Would you switch 'Do Not Track' off in favor of personalized ads? Let us know in the comments below.
Further Reading

Let it be OFF by default. I Would turn it off anyway!
About time we get a little credit for being able to make our own decisions, not some brain dead marketing group.
Should be banned altogether, tbh, never mind off by default.
I wonder when i'm gonna read on wikipedia: "Micro$oft was an OS company for PCs, now is into tablet only with its new version of windows called 8, they just give a damn about users and do what they want.."
@juan83
That looks like a great article for Unclyclopedia!!!
Let it be OFF by default. I Would turn it off anyway!
About time we get a little credit for being able to make our own decisions, not some brain dead marketing group.
Should be banned altogether, tbh, never mind off by default.
As an aside to the whiners, IE10 will be the next web browser, meaning it's in 8 and will be available for download for 7 and other OS. So, let's just be honest here. There are some people who will complain about any and everything MSFT does regardless of the merits or facts at hand.
As for Windows 8.... No Thank You.
Any1 that knows anything about economy and how money is made on the internet should understand that without proper tracking= no more advertising, no more advertising means websites/services/apps will look into other ways to monetize their content.
Use your brain, and think about what you just said. If there were no ads, there would be no free Tom's Hardware, or most of the sites you go to. They need to make money somewhere, and if not from ads, you'd have something where you'd pay the ISP by the minute (and they'd pay the sites), or you'd have to pay to get to any site you wanted to access (or most, anyway). Putting up with noise on the page you're looking at is pretty desirable compared to that, right?
There are inherent problems with tracking. For example, a surfer visits a web site featuring clothing. Later the surfer visits a web site featuring automobiles. As a result of tracking the automobile site will have an ad for clothing from the clothing site. It is the wrong ad on the wrong site. It would be more appropriate to have ads that correspond to a site's content.
BTW, @DRosencraft, try downloading IE9 on XP. "Other OSes" my ass - Vista users are almost certainly boned, and Win7 users may be too. Try drinking a little less Kool-Aid next time...
Also, most of the internet is supported through advertising, and most people really don't mind being tracked as usually the only manifestation of the tracking is a more relevant banner ad which they will also promptly ignore since most banner ads lead to shady looking sites that you would not trust with your money.
Also even though all of the companies that do tracking still fail at everything they do, it still brings in money for the sites that we like.
the only ad related thing that annoys me are ads that make noise, and ads that cover the content you are trying to view (and those are present regardless of tracking and are the primary reason why extensions such as adblock were created)