If you don't like advertisers knowing your every move on the Internet, help is on the way.
The only problem, Microsoft and Google can't seem to get on the same page. Your web browser will soon have a "do not track" button. The addition is backed by the White House, major browsers like Chrome, and even most major advertising platforms, like Yahoo and Google.
The sticking point is figuring out how the button should work.
Microsoft says it's going to make "do not track" the default setting in Internet Explorer. So automatically, your data won't be collected. But Google is not on board with that.
The search giant says it will only agree to the "do not track" button if "off" is the default setting. Yahoo and many other advertisers and publishers agree with Google. So there's a stale mate and neither side is budging.
If Microsoft moves forward with its plan, advertising networks might ignore the automatic privacy setting. Then again, they might ignore it anyway.
The button is essentially like the "do not call" list. It lets networks know your preference, but there won't be any firewall to keep them out. So tracking might continue whether we like it or not.
