<p dir="ltr">On 29 Aug 2015 3:20 pm, "Michael Catanzaro" <<a href="mailto:mcatanzaro@gnome.org">mcatanzaro@gnome.org</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
> On Sat, 2015-08-29 at 08:27 +0100, Richard Turner wrote:<br>
> > The DNT header absolutely should not be set by default, that<br>
> > completely<br>
> > goes against the grain of the header's design. Having DNT=1 set by<br>
> > default<br>
> > in Internet Explorer is what prompted networks to start ignoring it<br>
> > for<br>
> > that browser. The point is that is supposed to be a conscious user<br>
> > preference.<br>
> ><br>
> > Cheers,<br>
> > R<br>
><br>
> Many advertising companies (I believe most, but who knows) are going to<br>
> use the DNT header as another data point for tracking you. I don't<br>
> expect many sites to respect the header in general but selectively<br>
> ignore the header for only Epiphany users, because sites don't care<br>
> about Epiphany. :) Anyway, we are moving towards private-by-default,<br>
> rather than making the user think about it and choose whether to be<br>
> tracked or not. And I am turning on adblock by default right now :)<br>
> which is rather more serious for the advertising companies, IMO.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ad blocking by default is fine, it's very visible to the user and if he wants ads (believe it or not some people do!) it's obvious he's not getting them. DNT is invisible to the user unless he knows about it and actively looks for it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Your argument about networks using DNT as a tracking data point is plausible but unsubstantiated, I'd hesitate to declare that's what happens without inside knowledge. Moreover, if you're correct then not setting the header at all is better than setting it, surely?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Of course no one will bother about Epiphany specifically, but any browser writing DNT one way or another without the user's interaction lends weight to the argument that the header is useless; it actively undermines the point of it.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Cheers,<br>
R</p>
<p dir="ltr">-- <br>
"Racing turtles, the grapefruit is winning..."</p>