Internet Explorer 10 new privacy settings welcomed

Unsurprisingly, given the knock on effect DNT could have on advertisers, Hanff claimed the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) is already trying to find a way round it

"I am incredibly angry to hear that the advertising industry, led by the IAB, are considering ignoring the DNT header from Internet Explorer," said Hanff.

"I will be speaking to the EU Commission and Data Protection Authorities to try and get them to take significant action should the industry choose to take such a stance.

Bob Tarzey, service director at analyst Quocirca, said the introduction of DNT is unlikely to make much difference to Microsoft's share of the browser market, as he doubts users will choose Internet Explorer over Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome because of privacy concerns.

"One thing is for sure, most will stick with the default setting as they normally do, so DNT for Internet Explorer users will become pervasive," he told IT Pro.

This could be bad news for advertisers and users, he claimed, as tracking information is often used to provide them with a more tailored web browsing experience.

"We all enjoy using free' internet resources, such as Google search, but these need to be paid for somehow, and usually this is by the provider selling adverts," he explained.

"Undermine the ability to make those adverts as useful as possible and the user experience is downgraded and providers lose advertising revenue."

Caroline Donnelly is the news and analysis editor of IT Pro and its sister site Cloud Pro, and covers general news, as well as the storage, security, public sector, cloud and Microsoft beats. Caroline has been a member of the IT Pro/Cloud Pro team since March 2012, and has previously worked as a reporter at several B2B publications, including UK channel magazine CRN, and as features writer for local weekly newspaper, The Slough and Windsor Observer. She studied Medical Biochemistry at the University of Leicester and completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Magazine Journalism at PMA Training in 2006.