Pinterest Adds Support For “Do Not Track” As It Begins To Personalize Its Service For Users

Pinterest announced today that it will add support for Do Not Track, the web browser mechanism that allows users to opt-out of having their personal data and activity collected by websites and third parties. It’s not the first social media company to make this move — Twitter, for example, announced last year that it would also support the Do Not Track technology.
Do Not Track, for those unfamiliar, is similar in spirit to the Do Not Call registry, in that it allows consumers to state their preferences — in this case, that they do not want to have their website browsing activity tracked or personal data collected. The technology blocks cookies that collect that personal information, and specifically, the cookies left on users’ computers and devices by third parties for the purposes of advertising. However, Do Not Track to work requires cooperation between browser makers, website publishers, and developers to implement.
While the major browser makers have gotten on board, there are still only a small number of websites that support Do Not Track. And until today, Twitter was the only other social network to have made that commitment.
Explains Pinterest in a statement, “consensus around the technical specs for Do Not Track remain elusive. However, we believe people are making a choice when they turn on Do Not Track. Today, we’re committing to respecting that choice.”
Pinterest users will now be able to turn the feature on or off from their account Settings page at any time, the company says.
Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Senior Staff Technologist at the Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), says that Pinterest and Twitter are both supporting Do Not Track in similar ways: by either a browser signal or a preference set by the site itself. His organization is focused on improving consumer choice and privacy options, and hopes that Pinterest’s move will lead to more companies doing the same.

Why Support “Do Not Track” Now? Because Pinterest Is Getting More Personalized

Pinterest’s announcement about its support for Do Not Track comes at a time when the service is interested in better analyzing user activity in order to introduce more personalized features. For example, the company announced today that it’s also adding a new “Edit Your Home Feed” button on web and mobile that will make it easier to follow or unfollow boards. When you go in to edit your feed, you’ll be shown personalized pin and board suggestions based on things you’ve already been pinning on the service.

source [[ techcrunch. ]]