While the W3C working group continues to hammer out specifications for the Do Not Track header, it’s good to see a few tracking companies already moving ahead with their own implementations.
Here are two key points for companies adopting the DNT header in their choice framework.
- Confirm it in your privacy policy. Otherwise, it doesn’t mean much. While leading companies like BlueKai have said publicly that they honor the DNT header, it’s hard to give that much credit until they literally confirm it in their privacy policy. (That’s also when we will indicate DNT compliance in the PrivacyChoice Tracker List.)
- Explain what you do differently when you see the header. As an example, here’s what AdOcean recently added to their policy:
If DNT is turned on then the following scenarios may happen: a) you already have an AdOcean cookie stored in your browser – in this case this cookie will never be read or written again; b) you don’t have an AdOcean cookie yet in your browser – in this case it will not be created in the future either.
In most cases, companies will treat the presence of the DNT header as equivalent to an opt-out cookie, so the same explanation can easily apply.
As opposed to the last time I had to intervene, sorry, write a response, this advice actually makes sense!