Q: What exactly does turning on the 鈥淒o Not Track鈥� in my browser actually do?
A: It鈥檚 no secret that we鈥檙e all being tracked relentlessly online, so the 鈥淒o Not Track鈥� setting in your browser sounded promising. Flip a switch, and websites stop following you around the internet, right? Unfortunately, it doesn鈥檛 quite work that way.
What it was intended to do
When enabled, this feature adds a small message to every web request you make that says, in effect, 鈥減lease don鈥檛 track me.鈥� It鈥檚 like the speed limit signs we see every day. Whether others honor that sign is completely voluntary.
Why it doesn鈥檛 stop tracking
Unlike privacy laws that carry enforcement, the Do Not Track signal is nothing more than a request. Companies are free to ignore it 鈥� and most do. Major advertising networks and social platforms realized they鈥檇 lose too much money if they respected every Do Not Track request, so compliance quickly faded.
In practice, it鈥檚 like asking telemarketers nicely to stop calling you 鈥� a few might, but most won鈥檛.
Toss your cookies?
When people start thinking about tracking, cookies usually come up next. Cookies are tiny files websites store on your device to remember things, such as your login session, shopping cart or tracking information. Clearing cookies is one way to reduce tracking, but it also means you鈥檒l likely have to log back into sites because the 鈥渞emember me鈥� session was erased.
This raises a common worry: will clearing cookies erase my saved passwords? The good news is no 鈥� saved passwords are stored separately in your browser鈥檚 password manager (or a third-party password manager if you use one). Clearing cookies won鈥檛 wipe them out. The next time you log in, your browser should still offer to auto-fill your saved credentials. The only way you鈥檇 lose stored passwords is if you specifically choose to clear 鈥渟aved passwords鈥� or 鈥渂rowser data鈥� in your settings, which is different from clearing cookies.
Think of cookies as the temporary name tag you wear at a conference 鈥� it helps people recognize you while you鈥檙e there. Saved passwords are more like your driver鈥檚 license tucked safely in your wallet. Throwing away the name tag at the end of the day doesn鈥檛 make your license vanish; it just means you鈥檒l need to show it again next time.
What you can do instead
If your real goal is to reduce tracking, you鈥檒l need more than just the Do Not Track switch:
- Use browsers with built-in tracker blocking, such as Brave, Safari or Firefox, which actively block known trackers instead of asking them politely.
- Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can help mask your IP address, which is one of the key ways advertisers and data brokers track you across the web. While a VPN won鈥檛 stop every type of tracking (such as cookies), it makes it much harder for websites to tie your activity back to your actual location or identity.
- Add tracker-blocking extensions, such as uBlock Origin or Privacy Badger, for more granular control.
- Consider private search engines, such as DuckDuckGo or Startpage, if you don鈥檛 want your search queries tied back to you.
- Review and manage cookies regularly to minimize some of the consistent tracking data.
Ken Colburn is founder and CEO of聽. Ask any tech question on聽.
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