When it comes to user privacy, a new report says Microsoft’s flagship Web browser offers the best default features to block user-tracking and third party cookies.
According to a study from NSS Labs, Microsoft Internet Explorer 10 trumps Google Chrome and all other browsers with regard to out-of-the-box privacy configuration, including the way the controversial “Do Not Track” mechanism is implemented.
The Do Not Track header, available in all modern browsers, effectively requests that a web application disable either its tracking or cross-site user tracking of in individual web surfers. According to the NSS Labs study, Microsoft is the only browser that enables Do Not Track by default.
While Microsoft has implemented the mechanism by default, rival Google offers the feature but makes it difficult to enable. To turn on Do Not Track in Google Chrome, users must navigate to the Settings menu, go to the Advance Settings before finding the Do Not Track checkbox.
Interestingly, Apple’s Safari browser also received rave reviews in the study, taking the second spot behind IE 10 when it comes to out-of-the-box privacy configurations.
If Safari had a significant market share, NSS Labs argues that Apple’NQ s decision to disable third-party cookies by default would likely have aggravated the advertising industry.
By contrast, the research outfit found that Google and Mozilla (makers of the Firefox browser), “have trailed the industry in providing privacy protections for consumers, with Google even bypassing Safari’s cookie -blocking and incurring a US$22.5 million fine.
NSS Labs also pointed out that Google for circumventing third-party cookie blocking in IE in the past.
While Mozilla Firefox has indicated that it intends to block third-party cookies and enable Do Not Track by default, NSS Labs said the open-source group has yet to implement these changes and now “trails IE and Safari” in the privacy department.
“Google’s Chrome places a distant fourth, not only because of its default configuration and its obscure placement of privacy options, but also because Google’s history of evading privacy protections in other browsers,” according to the report.
The NSS Labs report (download PDF here) also covers the different browser vendors approach to Private Browsing, Geolocation exposure and tracking protection lists.