Internet advertisers begin offering new Do Not Track icon

Privacy and consumer advocates are lambasting the online advertising industry's version of a Do Not Track mechanism, slated to take world wide effect.

August 29 is the deadline for members of the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) to embrace use of a turquoise-colored triangle with a lowercase letter 'i' at center, referred to as the Advertising Option Icon. The IAB is calling on its members to voluntarily display this innocuous icon on web pages that are actually embedded with tracking cookies, web beacons and other stealthy tools that help advertising networks track precisely where you go and with whom you associate on the Internet.