Microsoft: We’re sticking with Do Not Track

Complain all you want.

Microsoft is not reconsidering the inclusion of a Do Not Track setting on its latest version of Internet Explorer, despite all the hand-wringing from the media community.

In a blog posted this week, Microsoft general counsel and executive vice president Brad Smith reiterated the company’s commitment to including DNT as the default setting on IE 10, saying that protecting users’ online privacy was one of Microsoft’s priorities.

DNT essentially stops advertisers from tracking users’ online footprint, meaning a web site can no longer serve up ads based on the search you just made.

“We continue to strive to put privacy first for our customers, while recognizing that providing consumers with more choice and control of their privacy requires strong collaboration with a number of stakeholders,” Smith writes in his post. “We often have a unique perspective in these discussions: We have billions of paying customers, as well as a thriving advertising business.”

Smith also calls for a “final and effective DNT standard that is adopted by the W3C,” or World Wide Web Consortium.

Earlier this year the Association of National Advertisers and several other groups came out against DNT and have asked Microsoft to reconsider the plan.

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