Google and Mozilla group has recently made a very important announcement to online users. This announcement has something to do with a new tool that will allow its users to opt out of having their activities tracked by some online advertisers. Apparently, this move was done by these giant companies in the industry in response to the “Do not track” lists that have been proposed by the US Federal Commission back in December when it has released a 122-page report that outlines the concept for online behavioral advertising.
The US Federal Commission has chosen to push for browser makers such as Google and Mozilla as well as some advertisers to self-regulate instead of making calls for legislation in order to address this issue. Mozilla and Google seem to take a different direction in resolving this problem. Google has come out with a new tool in the form of a new extension for Google Chrome that will be called Keep My Opt-Outs. This extension will allow its users to permanently opt out of online ad personalization via cookies.
With this new extension, Google hopes to solve the problem with existing cookie-based opt out solutions that are being offered by members of the advertising industry. The industry has faced a recurring problem involving opt-outs and controls. And at present around 50 advertising companies have offered to opt out of tracking through the use of some cookie-based solutions. However, these solutions need frequent updates on their preferences as new companies offer opt-outs unlike the new tool from Google which only needs to be set once since the setting is already stored permanently.
On the other hand, Mozilla takes this issue on hand on a different manner. This involves the plan of building a do not track feature in the coming versions of the Firefox browser. With this feature, websites will be alerted by Firefox that a user would like to opt out of online behavioral advertisements. Firefox strongly believes that this feature has a strong potential because of its clearer and more universal opt-out mechanism than cookies or blacklists.
These tools and additional features offered by Mozilla and Google seem to be a good start in making it easier for various users to opt-out of online ads, but these solutions will only work well if browser makers as well as advertisers will be able to unite and work together in a positive way.
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Tags: Do Not Track Browser mozilla, Do Not Track Browser plugin, Do Not Track Browser tool, fcc do not track list, google chrome
