The conversation around "Do Not Track" has been brought in to the spotlight after Microsoft announced that by default, IE10 will enable DNT when browsing the web. To make a long argument short, advertisers were pissed off about this because they want to be able to track you so that they can deliver targeted advertisements but of course, with DNT enabled by default, this could put a dent in their CPM metrics.
What you have in one corner is the corporations and in the other corner privacy advocates and Microsoft has just penned up a post re-affirming their stance to maintain default DNT on IE and will continue to fight for this as the standard is deliberated with the W3C.
In short, we agree with those who say this is all about user choice. However, we respectfully disagree with those who argue that the default setting for DNT should favor tracking as opposed to privacy.
As of late, Microsoft has taken public steps to affirm its stance on end-user privacy and you can look to the recent SkyDrive vs GDrive privacy policy review as an example. While Internet Explorer may have previously had a negative connotation to it, with a move such as default DNT, it is bound to re-gain trust of its previous users.
Microsoft made it clear in its posts that if a consumer wants to be tracked, they certainly have that option. But the big sticking point is that by default, should your online actions be tracked? That is what Microsoft is arguing and will continue to fight for against other juggernauts who want to be able to track you at all times.
The reason this is such a hot topic is because if DNT is set by default, the majority of consumers will most likely not turn off this feature. If the default setting is not changed, a significant portion web users will be "off the radar" for advertisers and making harder for them to get you to click their advertisements.
Source: Microsoft