What is 'Do Not Track'?
Do Not Track was a browser setting that sent websites a polite signal asking them not to track you. The catch: almost nobody was required to honour it, so for years it did very little.
The idea, and why it fizzled
Introduced around 2011, DNT added a header to your web requests saying "please do not track me". The problem was that it was voluntary. With no law forcing sites to obey it, most ignored it, and some browsers even stopped sending it. As a privacy tool, it largely failed.
What replaced it: Global Privacy Control
The successor is Global Privacy Control (GPC), a similar signal but with legal teeth in places like California. Under CCPA/CPRA, a GPC signal counts as a valid "do not sell or share" request that businesses must honour. So the concept lived on, just backed by law this time.
What it means for your site
If you serve California visitors, your consent setup should recognise GPC and treat it as an opt-out. In Europe the model is different: you need opt-in consent regardless, collected through a cookie banner and enforced with Consent Mode.
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