The Privacy Header
The “Do Not Track” (DNT) request is an HTTP header that web browsers can send to websites, essentially asking them not to track the user’s browsing habits across the internet for targeted advertising. Years ago, this was considered a vital privacy feature. Consequently, many users enabled it, and Google Chrome would automatically send this request with every page load. However, the DNT standard is entirely voluntary. The vast majority of websites, advertising networks, and analytics platforms completely ignore the request. Because the header is largely useless and adds a tiny amount of unnecessary data to every single web request you make, you may wish to turn it off to optimize your connection.
Disabling the DNT Request
To slightly streamline your network traffic and stop Google Chrome from automatically sending useless “Do Not Track” requests to websites, you must disable the feature in your privacy settings.
Open Google Chrome. Click the three vertical dots in the top-right corner of the browser window and select Settings from the dropdown menu. In the left-hand navigation pane, click on Privacy and security. In the main window, click on Third-party cookies (or “Cookies and other site data” on slightly older versions of Chrome). Scroll down this page until you find the toggle switch labeled Send a “Do Not Track” request with your browsing traffic. Click the toggle to switch it to the Off position (the switch will turn grey). Chrome will immediately stop appending the DNT header to your web requests, saving a minuscule amount of bandwidth without actually altering your practical privacy, as the standard is defunct.