> Since when did the consumers' sentiment become "track me please"?
You present a false dichotomy. In the absence of asking consumers what they actually want in regards to tracking (whatever that means), it is impossible to know what their sentiment is. There are three kinds of people: those who are aware of DNT and have opted in, those who are aware of DNT and have opted out, and those who are not aware of the option. Guess which group is the largest.
You could certainly say that advertisers are intentionally playing dumb here, and would like to continue to do so by forcing the opt-in decision for DNT to be buried in layers of settings dialogs rather than having an opt-out decision front-and-center when installing windows.
But that doesn't imply that anyone thinks most people want to be tracked. It just implies that in the absence of intent one way or the other, advertisers will continue to treat consumers as they always have.
> In the absence of asking consumers what they actually want in regards to tracking...
From the original blog post by MS ... "Since then, we have conducted additional consumer research that confirmed strong support for our "consumer-privacy-first" approach to DNT."
Sounds like that's exactly what they did (asked their users).
> Guess which group is the largest.
The group that you explain what DNT is, and then enables it...
> "How, exactly, are they intending to detect the user's explicit consent via the medium of HTTP headers?"
My understanding is that when shipped (Windows 8 or IE 10), on first run the user is prompted to opt-out of, opt-in, or dismiss DNT. DNT is explained, and is given its own huge screen in the first-run process/dialog.
A set DNT header to 1 (don't track) or 0 (do track) signifies an "explicit" choice was made.
A missing DNT header signifies that user has not set, or has dismissed the option.
*I'm taking some guesses here with the "dismiss" choice. But I'm pretty sure MS pulls up a screen explaining DNT and gives the opt-in/out-out options to the user.
If you ask 100 random people whether they want to be tracked on line by advertisers, are you really going to tell us that 90% will say yes?
The default of "do not track me please" is 100% correct because it represents the consumers' natural setting.
From the article... "the company said that Windows 8 will inform users of the Do Not Track preference during the first run experience."
They even offer the consumer to make the choice for him/herself.