Communications of the ACM
Stanford Students Create 'do Not Track' Software
"We always thought Do Not Track was a great technical idea, and it has a real impact that's feasible," says Stanford University's Jonathan Mayer, one of two researchers who created the software.
Credit: L.A. Cicero / Stanford University
Stanford University researchers have developed Do Not Track, software that enables users to disable third-party Web tracking technology and tell advertisers to stop following their behavior online. "What concerns us is if you're on a site like Amazon and you go looking for shoes, then someone tells a behavioral advertising service that you've been looking for shoes," says Stanford's Jonathan Mayer.
Do Not Track can be installed as an add-on to Firefox and adds a header to HTTP traffic that says the user does not want to be tracked. Once installed, the program works automatically. The researchers are working to make the program compatible with Google's Chrome browser, and also are developing ways to configure it for use on Web servers. However, the researchers say that ultimately the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will need to intervene to ensure widespread privacy protection.
"At the end of day, Congress would probably have to pass a law empowering the FTC to enforce this," says Stanford's Ryan Calo. "The FTC could also say they are responsible for policing the Internet for deceptive and unfair practices, so if a consumer says he doesn't want to be tracked and you track him, that can be seen as an unfair practice."
From Stanford University
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