The Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) said
Tuesday that it would not require participating companies to honor Microsoft's
default browser-based do not track regime. "Machine-driven do not track
does not represent user choice; it represents browser-manufacturer
choice," DAA said in a statement.
DAA
has a voluntary do not track program that honors browser-based do not track if
it is an opt-in choice, but said Tuesday that "it is not a DAA Principle
or in any way a requirement under the DAA Program to honor a DNT signal that is
automatically set in IE10 (Interenet Explorer 10) or any other browser. The
Council of Better Business Bureaus and the Direct Marketing Association will
not sanction or penalize companies or otherwise enforce with respect to DNT
signals set on IE10 or other browsers."
Microsoft,
Mozilla and others had committed to the Obama Administration that they would
support the do-not-track browser option also supported by DAA, but the default
setting takes it up a notch.
DAA
said at the time they were troubled and said that default setting "may
ultimately narrow the scope of consumer choices, undercut thriving business
models, and reduce the availability and diversity of the Internet products and
services that millions of American consumers currently enjoy at no
charge."
Jeff
Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, which has
backed strong do not track protections, saw the move as part of a larger effort
to undermine do not track.
"[DAA's]
announcement today to punish Microsoft for putting consumers first is an
extreme measure designed to strong-arm companies that care about privacy,"
he said. "The DAA's campaign to penalize Microsoft is part of a
broad-based attack by ad industry lobbyists against Do Not Track, including
their attempt to derail the work of the W3C last week in Amsterdam."
DAA
members include the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the American
Advertising Federation, and the Association of National Advertisers.
