Abine, Inc., the online privacy company, today announced a new online tracker-blocking tool called DoNotTrackMe (DNTMe), which builds on the company's DoNotTrackPlus (DNT+) browser add-on. It's the same trusted privacy technology that more than 2.5 million people have downloaded to stop companies and social networks from tracking their every move on the web, and serves as powerful alternative to the Do Not Track option in Internet Explorer, Safari, Mozilla, Firefox and Chrome browsers.
Along with the new name, DNTMe expands upon DNT+ by offering more powerful tracker-blocking and an improved user interface. DNTMe blocks 50 more tracking technologies than its predecessor, stopping more than 200 advertising companies and 630 tracking technologies from collecting personal data. The new tool also removes the option to set advertiser opt-out cookies, an ineffective self-regulatory method of opting out of tracking that caused widespread consumer confusion. Abine removed the opt-out cookies at the request of their users, who preferred the increased effectiveness of simply blocking web tracking. DNTMe is available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer and maintains well-loved features like blocking the tracking behind social buttons, such as Facebook Like buttons, while still enabling users to share content when they want.
Despite web users' desire to keep their online behavior private, advertising and social networks largely do not honor the major browsers' Do Not Track option to stop consumer data collection. These browsers let users turn on Do Not Track, but many consumers do not realize that the header has virtually no effect on privacy because most advertisers and websites ignore it. Abine and the UC Berkeley Center for Law and Technology's collaboration on the latest Web Privacy Census found that tracking is at an all-time high and growing rapidly. For those looking to take action now, Abine's DoNotTrackMe gives consumers a simple, free way to stop data collection companies from tracking them around the web and collecting, storing, and selling their information.
Additional new features in DNTMe include a chart that visualizes the total number of blocked tracking attempts, translation into 12 languages, and an alert feature that appears when there is relevant privacy news about the site a user is currently visiting. DNTMe alerts direct users to a webpage explaining the news, privacy tips, and next steps.
When using DNTMe, users can do everything they would normally do online with no disruption: shop, play games, socialize, and know they're doing it more safely with DNTMe because the tool stops the collection of behavioral and demographic information. With DNTMe's availability during the holiday shopping season, users can prevent companies from tracking their increased shopping behavior, such as what sites they visit, products they view, and items they buy. The tool also increases webpage load speeds by up to four times by reducing the time a browser spends responding to tracking requests.
