Twitter has just joined forces with Mozilla to implement a “Do Not Track” feature to stop sites from collecting cookies from its users.
In a blog post Thursday, Mozilla announced that Twitter was the latest company to give users control over what sites can collect their personal information using third-party cookies.
“We’re excited that Twitter now supports Do Not Track and global user adoption rates continue to increase, which signifies a big step forward for Do Not Track and the Web,” wrote Alex Fowler, Mozilla global privacy and policy lead.
“Current adoption rates of Do Not Track are 8.6% for desktop users of Firefox and 19% for Firefox Mobile users and we see the highest percentage of users turning on Do Not Track in The Netherlands, France and the United States.”
According to a Mozilla survey, 49 percent of users believed that “their privacy is respected more when Do Not Track is enabled, as opposed to only 12 percent who feel that way without the setting,” Fowler added.
News of the new feature was well received on Twitter, where people called it “important” and a “big deal.”
Enabling Do Not Track essentially prevents your data and profile from being collected and analyzed, a move that, for one thing, will likely result in more sponsored tweets and generic ads in your Twitter stream.
The Do Not Track follows a string of power moves by Twitter to protect and improve its user experience.
On March 5 Twitter filed a $700,000 lawsuit against against five spam-tool providers and spammers. In early May, Twitter also refused a court order requiring it to turn over personal information about one of its users involved in Occupy Wall Street protests.
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