Jonathan Mayer writes:
Over the past several months researchers at the Stanford Security Labhave been developing a platform for measuring dynamic web content. One of our chief applications is a system for automated enforcement of Do Not Track by detecting the myriad forms of third-party tracking, includingcookies, HTML5 storage, fingerprinting, and much more. While the software isn’t quite polished enough for public release, we’re eager to share some unexpected early results on the advertising ecosystem. Please bear in mind that these are preliminary findings from experimental software; our primary aims at this stage are developing the platform and validating the approach to third-party tracking detection. Many thanks to Jovanni Hernandez and Akshay Jagadeesh for their invaluable research assistance.
Some of the surprising early findings:
1. At least two NAI members are taking overt steps to respect Do Not Track.
2. Over half of the NAI members we tested did not remove their tracking cookies after opting out.
3. At least eight NAI members promise to stop tracking after opting out, but nonetheless leave tracking cookies in place.
4. At least ten NAI members go beyond their privacy policies and remove their tracking cookies.
Read more and get the details on CIS.