There is a problem with this feature, though.
For Firefox's tool to work, however, tracking companies would need to agree to not monitor users who enable the do-not-track feature. So far, no companies have publicly agreed to participate in the system, but Mozilla urged them to join in.
Huh? I really hate to break this to Mozilla, but asking companies to honor a do-not-track request is about as reliable as asking a financial institution not to create credit default swaps. I think the corporation will have to do better than that. Let's look at it this way:
Last month, however, Microsoft said it would revive a powerful privacy feature in its Internet Explorer 9 that would let users stop certain websites and tracking companies from monitoring them.
The Wall Street Journal reported in a front-page article last year that Microsoft removed similar features from Internet Explorer 8 after online advertisers expressed concerns about the impact on their business.
Hmmm... "...concerns about the impact on their business." So I'm wondering what has changed that Microsoft can get away with the privacy feature on IE9? Have these "concerns" gone away in just one year? I'm surprised that Mozilla thinks that these companies and their "concerns" are going to honor the corporations request. I wouldn't hold my breath...
Google is also tinkering with a tracking feature. The problem with both Microsoft and Google is that it's just not as easy as checking a box to enable the feature:
...these tools still aren't easy to use. Microsoft's feature requires users to create a list of tracking companies they want to block. The Google tool is not embedded in its Chrome Web browser. Instead, users will need to download software onto their computer, according to the person familiar with the tool.
For Firefox, one does just need to check a box.
Once users enable the feature, Firefox would broadcast a do-not-track message to each website a user visits, and to the many tracking companies that are hosted on that website.
Mozilla is asking those who receive the do-not-track request to stop collecting data about the user and stop using that data for marketing purposes. That is one step further than most opt-outs that tracking companies offer, which prevent data usage but don't prevent data collection.
Obviously, in this 21st century technology, it should be no problem to keep anyone from tracking you with the simple click of a button. The 500-pound gorillas just choose not to. I'm sure it makes the corporate images look good with their gyrations.
