Google added a Do Not Track (DNT) privacy option in its latest Chrome developer build that was released on Thursday. Google already has its own privacy protection options, such as Keep My Opt-Outs, which is why Google didn't seem very keen on putting up DNT for Chrome users.
Major browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari have already implemented the DNT option. In Microsoft's latest edition of web browser, Internet Explorer 9, the Do Not Tack option is a default setting. It was only after the U.S. administration requested Google to implement it, that it entered the party.
The DNT option lets users opt out of being tracked across Web sites for the purpose of targeted advertising. All Things D points out that it's still a work in progress. But this is an important step for Chrome as it is one of the most-used browsers in the world.
The U.S. administration wants all other browsers to comply with the privacy rules.
"We undertook to honor an agreement on DNT that the industry reached with the White House early this year. To that end we're making this setting visible in our Chromium developer channel, so that it will be available in upcoming versions of Chrome by year's end," Google spokesman Rob Shilkin said to All Things D.
Do Not Track option enables "DNT: 1" option in the browser that will let all advertisers and websites know that the user does want to be tracked.
Google was initially aloof to the DNT proposal and only reluctantly agreed as a conflict may arise between Google's advertising business and its web browser efforts. Google makes billions of dollars from targeted advertisements.
PC Magazine says this option does not really guarantee privacy on the Web and might goad some browsers into a "false sense of security."
