Firefox 4 goes to 11 (betas)

'Do Not Track' header debuts

By Cade Metz, 8th February 2011

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Mozilla has released an 11th Firefox beta, adding the "Do Not Track" http header it hopes will become an internet standard.

We’ve continued our work to improve performance and stability, while also implementing a 'Do Not Track' privacy feature to provide more control over online behavioral tracking," the open source outfit said in a blog post announcing the new beta.

Mozilla first proposed its 'Do Track Header' last month, hoping to provide a way for netizens to prevent ad networks from watching their online habits. The header reads “DNT: 1″ when a user turns on the do-not-track option. You can do so by visiting the "Advanced" section of the Firefox Preferences tool in the new beta.

Of course, the header won't really do anything until website publishers decided to recognize the thing. It would seem that Google and various other big name ad outfits don't really want this addition, preferring to police themselves. The same day that Mozilla announced its project, Google released a Chrome browser extension that lets you opt-out of tracking cookies from multiple online advertising networks. "We certainly believe that self-regulation has worked very well so far," a company spokeswoman told us.

You can download the new beta here. Mozilla has said that there will be at least one more beta before a release candidate arrives. ®

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