Apple Kills Off “Do Not Track” Browser Feature Because It Was Useless Anyway

[The AchieVer]

Apple Kills Off “Do Not Track” Browser Feature Because It Was Useless Anyway 

Apple has decided to ditch the Do Not Track feature in Safari, pretty much because it has no real benefit to the user.

As a result, the latest Safari versions on both mobile and desktop no longer come with such a feature, with the company implementing other tech to keep users protected.

Do Not Track was introduced as a common standard by the majority of browser developers in order to inform websites that users do not want to be tracked when loading content. Basically, this was supposed to tell advertisers to “stop user tracking,” but it was still up to them to accept the request or not.

As you could easily figure out, most advertisers ignored the Do Not Track signal, mostly because many believed that such an approach would have harmed their business.Other features blocking trackingSo the Do Not Track feature in browsers eventually became useless, which has prompted Apple to remove it completely from Safari with the latest update.

iOS 12.2 reveals that Apple has “removed support for the expired Do Not Track standard to prevent potential use of a fingerprint variable.” The feature has already been removed from Safari Technology Preview and is no longer offered as part of macOS 10.14.4 beta, as per MacRumors.

Apple thus says that it decided to give up on Do Not Track not only because it didn’t bring any real benefit to users, but also because it could expose certain data, including browser information.

In exchange, Apple now offers users the so-called Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which is a more advanced feature that’s supposed to block tracking no matter the choice of advertisers. The change is projected to become official with the next iOS and macOS stable release when the updated Safari builds go live for mobile and desktop.

 

 

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[BimBamSmash]

Not sure I'd buy Apple's claim here and I honestly doubt their goodwill. They say the same about hiding WiFi SSIDs and how it makes things less secure. You'd wonder why all vendors, including Cisco, carry the same feature over on all their products if it was that bad.

[Mutton]

It would be a good feature if it was in some way mandatory and enforceable. As soon as I read "optional" when it first appeared, I guessed it was a waste of a check box and complete placebo.

 

I've no idea if Apple are telling the truth, but I can fully imagine that the 'feature' just gives more identifiable markers.