The Next version of Internet Explorer will let users turn on “tracking protection”, a new mechanism that will block specified users, Microsoft says.
The IE 9 announcement came as the U.S Federal Trade commission proposed that consumers be allowed to subscribe to a “do not track” system similar to “do not call” (in short DND) list that blocks telemarketers.
In IE 9, users can turn the feature on and then choose a list of sites to block. Anyone-Including individuals, companies, and consumers-protection groups-can make lists, and users can subscribe to as many as they please. List authors can update lists; the updates will automatically push out to subscribers, as IE 9 will check for updates once a week. The features will not block Flash cookies.
Some users may be surprised by the result, however: Sites that users block for tracking them will also be prohibited from displaying certain content. Websites will be able to detect when visitors are using the list; the sites will therefore know that some page elements may be blocked for the visitors.
The new tracking protection feature is available from the Internet Explorer 9 Release candidate.