Twitter is joining the ranks of other websites that allow users to control who is checking out their online doings, announcing today that it is all set to support Do Not Track. For those not in the know, Do Not Track is a feature in Firefox that allows Internet surfers to tell participating websites that they don’t want their activity tracked.

“As the Federal Trade Commission’s CTO, Ed Felten, mentioned this morning, Twitter now supports Do Not Track,” Twitter’s Carolyn Penner wrote in an email to the Los Angeles Times. “We applaud the FTC’s leadership on Do Not Track, and are excited to provide the benefits of Do Not Track.”

Using the feature sends out a “Do Not Track HTTP” header every time a user’s data is requested from the Web. Windows users can find it in the menu for Tools, then Options, then Privacy. Check the box next to “Tell websites I do not want to be tracked.” Mac users can click on Firefox>Preferences>Privacy and click that box.

The FTC is likely pleased as punch that Twitter has joined the ranks of sites handing over more control to the consumers using those sites on a daily basis. In a recent report regarding consumer privacy, the FTC urged the Internet industry to keep it up with the self-regulatory measures like using Do Not Track.

“Although some companies have excellent privacy and data security practices, industry as a whole must do better …. Do Not Track is a step toward putting you in control of the way your information is collected and used online,” read the report.

Twitter supports ‘do not track’ [LATimes.com]

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