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Chrome updated with Do Not Track protocol support, but leaves it turned off by default

Chrome updated with Do Not Track protocol support, but leaves it turned off by default

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Google just released the latest stable version of Chrome, which finally includes support for the somewhat-controversial Do Not Track protocol. This makes Google the last major browser developer to support it, as Microsoft, Mozilla, Apple, and even Opera enabled it in their browsers some time ago. Google's chosen to have the option turned off by default, the opposite of Microsoft's default behavior in Internet Explorer 10. There's some question as to how effective Do Not Track will be — a number of companies, including internet giant Yahoo, have said they will not recognize Microsoft's DNT requests from IE 10, so it's possible Chrome will be treated similarly. Google acknowledges this possibility in its blog post announcing Chrome, saying "the effectiveness of [DNT] requests is dependent on how websites and services respond, so Google is working with others on a common way to respond to these requests in the future."

Aside from DNT, Chrome 23 doesn't bring many new user-facing features — there's a redesigned interface for managing website permissions for things like location and camera access, and Windows users will now benefit from GPU-accelerated video decoding, which should help reduce power consumption. If you're interested in upgrading, Chrome 23 is out now.