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Microsoft has announced that it will no longer have the “Do Not Track” feature enabled as default on Windows.
It will however provide clear instructions on how to switch it on in the browser settings if the user so desires.
The company’s decision to activate the setting as a default angered many advertisers who said they didn’t plan on honouring the do not track request.
It was pointed out that if this setting was on as default, then it did not necessarily reflect the users’ preference, justifying why they would ignore the request.
Brendan Lynch, chief privacy officer at Microsoft, stated: “We are updating our approach to DNT to eliminate any misunderstanding about whether our chosen implementation will comply with the W3C standard.
“Without this change, websites that receive a DNT signal from the new browsers could argue that it doesn’t reflect the users’ preference, and therefore, choose not to honour it.”
In other news: Microsoft recently launched a new pilot programme aiming to hire people with autism into fulltime positions at its Redmond campus, reports Business Insider.
Mary Ellen Smith, corporate VP of worldwide operations at Microsoft, wrote: “It’s simple, Microsoft is stronger when we expand opportunity and we have a diverse workforce that represent our customers.”
Danish non-profit organisation Specialisterne is in partnership with Microsoft to run the programme.
Smith continued: “People with autism bring strengths that we need at Microsoft, each individual is different, some have amazing ability to retain information, think at a level of detail and depth or excel in math or code. It’s a talent pool that we want to continue to bring to Microsoft."
