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Do Not Track (DNT)

Discussions center on the Do Not Track (DNT) HTTP header, its widespread lack of respect by websites and advertisers, historical failures, and proposals for regulatory enforcement or alternatives like GPC.

📉 Falling 0.4x Security
2,112
Comments
18
Years Active
5
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#862
Topic ID

Activity Over Time

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Top Contributors

jeroenhd (19) cpeterso (15) danShumway (15) troupo (15) eli (14)

Keywords

IT US CCPA ESPECIALLY GPC mozilla.org DNT HOWEVER WRT DoubleClick track header tracking cookie default tracked browser browsers privacy respect

Sample Comments

martin8412 • Aug 26, 2023 • View on HN

There's already DNT(Do not track) in the browsers, but nobody respects it.

mattxxx • Dec 11, 2024 • View on HN

Agree with this choice. DNT didn't work, and now it's just a signal that could _help_ organizations track you.

spaniard_dev • Oct 24, 2019 • View on HN

Just use the DNT header and they won't track you.

rlv-dan • Mar 25, 2019 • View on HN

Why not just respect the "do not track" header?

LinuxBender • May 11, 2018 • View on HN

Is anyone required to honor DNT requests? What happens if they don't?

whatshisface • Jan 22, 2024 • View on HN

Why not regulate the DNT header into expressing the user's cookie banner preferences?

rmc • May 9, 2020 • View on HN

There already is a DNT (Do not track) HTTP Header, but advertisers ignore it.

dataflow • Jan 21, 2019 • View on HN

If GDPR required websites to obey DNT would it still be ignored?

JCWasmx86 • Apr 23, 2023 • View on HN

Does it respect DNT headers? If no, it does not respect users.

ragebol • Nov 19, 2025 • View on HN

Would there have been cookie banners if DNT was respected?