It's no secret that social networks collect huge amounts of personal information from you. Now Twitter will give you a choice in the matter.
Twitter is now embracing the Do Not Track initiative started by the federal government earlier this year. Browsers like Firefox, Internet Explorer, and the upcoming version of Safari all have "Do Not Track" buttons, which theoretically block third-party cookies that collect personal information from users. These buttons, though, don't do anything unless the sites issuing the cookies agree to be blocked.
Earlier this year Google said it would comply with Do Not Track, and now the New York Times says Twitter will follow suit by enabling the Do Not Track feature in Firefox as well as allowing users to disable tracking from Twitter. More choice is always a good thing. Now if only we could convince Facebook to play ball. [The New York Times]
Image via Anton Prado/Shutterstock
Update:
We heard from Twitter, and it turns out there's broader browser support for DNT than we initially reported:
The DNT browser setting is now supported by recent versions of major browsers, including Firefox 5+, Internet Explorer 9+, and Safari 5.1+. If you are using Chrome 17.0 or higher, there is a third-party, extension that enables DNT.