How to check if a website respects DNT?

Privacy Questions
1

How to check if a website respects DNT ?
I literally searched on DDG and Google and ChatGPT and nothing could help me… I used the browser’s console but I did not find my answer.
Thanks

2

This is nearly entirely server side, it may be mentioned in a privacy policy but even then you’d just have to trust they honor it or not.

1 Like
3

Thank you

4

Sending do not track is just another fingerprinting method.
Nowadays almost no browser still uses it as a default.
It makes no difference.

5

Thanks.
Still, it is a requirement for the VPN providers.

6

Use the flowchart bellow:

Does site respect DNT? - - - - - - - > No

7

It depends what you mean by “respect”. I have observed that DNT actually can have a clear effect on Youtube. There it reduces the personalization of their homepage. Reduces is the key word, because they do not stop personalizing it entirely, but they replace some of the targeted content with generic popular stuff.

  • Without DNT, my logged out youtube homepage is ~70% targeted content (my favorite musicians, my hobbies, youtubers I watch, etc)
  • With DNT, that percentage of targeted content reduces to something like 30%.

All of this is when not logged in, so clearly they are fingerprinting me to identify me. The fact that the targeted content reduces, but does not cease clearly indicates that they are still fingerprinting me, but are responding to my DNT request by offering fewer personalized results.

Note: the last time I tested this was in April. IDK if they have changed their behavior since.

8

Simple answer is, the site operators, as in general, do not respect your DNT wish, this scheme was pushed by EFF, but it now becomes another vector to trace users, disable it. And if the VPN services are pushing the DNT ! Dump it and go elsewhere.

9

DNT is deprecated in favor of Global Privacy Control, which is communicated to servers using the Sec-GPC header