Yahoo Stops Honoring 'Do-Not-Track' Settings 300
An anonymous reader writes "When web browsers started implementing 'do-not-track' settings, Yahoo got some respect for being the first of the huge tech companies to honor those settings. Unfortunately, that respect has now gone out the door. As of this week, Yahoo will no longer alter their data collection if a user doesn't want to be tracked. They say there are two reasons for this. First, they want to provide a personalized web-browsing experience, which isn't possible using do-not-track. Second, they don't think do-not-track is viable. They say, '[W]e've been at the heart of conversations surrounding how to develop the most user-friendly standard. However, we have yet to see a single standard emerge that is effective, easy to use and has been adopted by the broader tech industry.' It looks like this is another blow to privacy on the web."
Simple enough to fix (Score:5, Interesting)
My Standard (Score:5, Interesting)
>'we have yet to see a single standard emerge that is effective, easy to use and has been adopted by the broader tech industry.'
Here is my 'standard'; NoScript and AdBlock Plus.
The WWW is dead. (Score:5, Interesting)
First, they want to provide a personalized web-browsing experience, which isn't possible using do-not-track.
But the user clearly does not want a personalised web-browsing experience.
Ghostery, Secret Agent, CS Lite and NoScript are essential today, and nobody should EVER go online without those, or some equivalent. Let them personalise that.
The Web has been hijacked and is now fundamentally broken. It is being transformed into a locked-in content delivery platform, something like cable TV with a camera that records your every movement. It needs to be handled with gloves and goggles, like you would when accessing a chemical weapons research facility.
We'll need to develop another Internet, this one has been taken over by marketroids and is beyond saving.
Sigh: personalized web-browsing experience (Score:4, Interesting)
First, they want to provide a personalized web-browsing experience, which isn't possible using do-not-track.
This is one of the phrases and behaviors that annoy me the most about various sites, especially search sites. I search for both personal and work related things, don't want searches tailored to anything other than the specific thing for which I'm searching at that time. I generally don't care what I searched for 24h ago (looking at you Google side-bar).
In a related rant, I can't stand the Google side-bar, Instant and Suggestions and make every attempt to disable and or strip them out (using Proxomitron) though now that Google has switched to HTTPS, that makes things more difficult for me - sigh.
Dear Providers, Don't "help" me unless I ask for it.
Re:Yahoo, kill yourself! (Score:4, Interesting)
Horrible decision, a standard isn't being honored "EVERYWHERE" so you decide to undermine it entirely without replacement? What's the REAL reason, money?
Sell your assets and gtfo!
As far as I know Google doesn't honor it either on their services, but Microsoft do, which is an interesting situation
That's because Microsoft, despite whatever flaws they may have, makes all their money selling actual products -- Windows, Office, Games for Xbox, etc.......
Companies like Google and Yahoo, on the other hand, have no actual products. Their revenue depends entirely on advertising. YOU are the product and you are being sold to advertisers.
Nothing surprising at all about Google and Yahoo not honoring Do Not Track.
Re:Yahoo, kill yourself! (Score:5, Interesting)
Part of the problem is what I believe to be a flawed business model for marketers. They feel that they need to somehow "steal" people's information and use it to "force" adds on them. The phrase "targeted" adds suggests a hostile approach. My impression is that most people want to see informative adds for products that they might buy. If it were easy for customers to craft their on online profiles so that they would see adds of interest to them, advertisers would be able to directly provide relevant information.
Right now I'm not in the market for a car - all the adds in the world won't do any good. In a few years when I am ready to buy, I will want to see information on the types of cars that I might consider buying. The way things are set up now, immediately after I buy a car I will be flooded with car adds - despite the fact that a recent purchases is the least likely to buy again.