Showing personalized advertisements is one of the biggest revenue driving factors for companies like Google and Facebook. However, this is a privacy problem for individual users as someone always track your online activities. Almost all informational and news websites show display ads from Google using cookies and identifiers. Whenever you visit one of these sites, these cookies/identifiers will be stored on the browser and start tracking your activities across the sites. To prevent this, Google Chrome has an option to send “Do Not Track” request to websites you visit. In this article, we will explain how to send “Do Not Track” request in Google Chrome desktop and mobile apps.
Do Not Track Request
Remember, even you send a do not track request in request header, it is up to the site owner to accept this. Some sites ignore this request as it can affect the ad revenue. Google Chrome by default disable this setting and here is how you can enable it.
1. Send Do Not Track Request in Chrome Desktop
Follow the below instructions in Chrome Windows and Mac versions:
- Open Chrome and click on the three vertical dots icon showing on the top right corner.
- Select “Settings” option from the list of menu items.
- Click “Privacy and security” menu from the sidebar.
- Scroll down a bit on the right pane and select “Cookies and other site data” option showing under “Privacy and security” heading.
- Scroll down to find and turn on “Send a “Do Not Track” request with your browsing traffic” option.
- You will see a confirmation prompt showing not all websites will process the do not track request. Click on “Confirm” button to add do not track request in HTTP request header.
Testing Do Not Track Request in HTTP Header
As mentioned, the effect can’t be easily identified as some websites will accept the request and some others not. However, what you can test is to confirm whether Chrome is sending the request in the header. You can do this using Web Developer Tools under “Network” tab. You can learn more about how to view and edit HTTP header in Google Chrome in this guide. When the do not track request is enabled in Chrome settings, you can see dnt:1 is sent in the request header section.
If you turn off the do not request option in settings, Chrome will not send the dnt parameter in HTTP request header.
2. Disable Cross-Website Tracking in Chrome iOS
On iPhone and iPad, you can use the default Apple’s privacy setting to disable apps tracking your activities across other apps. Chrome iOS app also has an option to disable cross-website tracking.
- Tap on Settings app and scroll down to find Chrome app.
- Tap Chrome to open its settings page.
- Turn off “Allow Cross-Website Tracking” option.
3. Send DNT Request in Chrome Android App
Follow the below instructions on Chrome Android app which is similar to desktop app.
- Open Chrome app and tap on three dots vertical icon.
- Select “Privacy and security” option and then tap on “Do Not Track”.
- Turn the option on to send DNT requests in header.
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