Microsoft Sticks to 'Do Not Track' Plans for IE in Windows 8
Putting user privacy first.
Microsoft has announced that it is sticking with controversial plans to have 'Do Not Track' as the default setting for Internet Explorer 10 users with Windows 8. Microsoft first announced plans to have DNT enabled by default in IE10 in early June. However, the announcement drew a significant amount of criticism from the advertising industry, and claims that Microsoft would be contradicting a prior agreement with the White House threw Redmond's plans into an uncertain light.
Today, Microsoft revealed that DNT will be the default on IE10 and that it's a done deal thanks to Windows 8's RTM milestone. Lynch says this approach fits in with Microsoft's goal of configuring IE to better protect privacy while also giving users control of Internet Explorer's features. According to Lynch, additional consumer research confirmed strong support for the company's "consumer-privacy-first" approach with DNT following the release of Windows 8 Release Preview in May.
"With Windows 8's recent release to manufacturing, we know many people are interested in how customers will discover Do Not Track (DNT) in Internet Explorer 10," Microsoft's Chief Privacy Officer, Brendan Lynch, said today. "DNT will be enabled in the 'Express Settings' portion of the Windows 8 set-up experience. There, customers will also be given a 'Customize' option, allowing them to easily switch DNT 'off' if they'd like."
When setting up Windows 8, users will be asked to choose between 'Express Settings' or 'Customize.' If users select the former, DNT will be enabled by default but users will be notified that their decision turns DNT on. Selecting the 'Customize' approach will enable users to turn a number of different settings on and off, including DNT.
Windows 8 is due out October 26 of this year. The OS hit RTM last week, and has already been leaked to file-sharing websites.
Follow @JaneMcEntegart on Twitter.

IE9 had it...
In December 2010, Microsoft announced support for the DNT mechanism in its Internet Explorer 9 web browser. Followed by Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, and Opera all later added support. It is not currently supported by Google Chrome, but will be incorporated into it by the end of 2012."
Epic fail M$
IE9 had it...
In December 2010, Microsoft announced support for the DNT mechanism in its Internet Explorer 9 web browser. Followed by Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, and Opera all later added support. It is not currently supported by Google Chrome, but will be incorporated into it by the end of 2012."
Last time my FF crashed would be like months ago. Idk what you are talking about, sure newer FF arent much better than older ones but they havent failed me.
Who knows what else is in the bag : )
They are not updates, but beta versions.
BTW, what is your latest version that u are using?
I'm guessing because Microsoft doesn't have nearly as big of a dog in the Ad revenue fight as others *cough* Google *cough* which makes up 97% of there income. Even though IE is sitting below 50% world wide usage, I wonder whether or not this could impact Google's revenues in the slightest as the years go by and usage rises.
I'm curious if the DNT will affect Google at all or if that's just an overstatement, but it would explain why Google doesn't want, but NEEDS to get out of almost all revenue streaming from advertisements.
IE10 is for win8 only. We will not see it for Vista/7 just like IE9 did not make it for XP.
IE9 is not a bad browser (like it's predecessors), it merely lacks the features that most of us want, and unless those make it into IE10/11 then they will continue to loose market share.
Advertising agencies did ask Microsoft to change their mind when they said they were going have this enabled by default. And now that this is confirmed, I believe the point of DNT is effectively rendered useless, thus weakening users' privacy. I'm waiting to read news about big ad agencies stopping to honor DNT.
good way for your pr0n links to end up on your work PC - bad idea.
IE10 Will be for Windows 7 and 8
Thus leaving the ad agencies as the bad guy; this is an excellent, albeit pointless, source of good PR.
as an aside, the adblock argument is beaten to death, but if you are running an updated ie9/chrome/ff the only point in running adblock is to "stick it to the man" (or laptop battery life); legitimate websites depend on ad revenue. For the nefarious/questionable lot, you should be running sandboxed.
And just to tack on an unrelated comment: What happened to innovation and moving forward? appreciation of new technology? Most "techies", anymore, are just people who enjoy spending time on the internet.
Objectivity should be your goal, not this, "ick you use ie?" attitude based on ten year old information.
Making it useless.
At best, they will respect it only for non-IE browsers, and Microsoft will then point at the ad industries as the "bad guys" while they themselves were the cause of it.
For those saying Microsoft doesn't rely so much on advertising, I'll point you to: Windows Live Messenger constant adverts, Hotmail's constant adverts, the future Office 365 Lite's funding through advertising, and its own Live Search engine. They may keep enforcing DNT, and then build an argument by saying "see? We respect DNT while Google etc. don't".