Web users should be able to tell advertising networks not to show them targeted advertisements based on their browsing activities — and those companies should comply. That is the verdict of the leaders of a working group that has been arguing for almost two years over how to establish a uniform Do Not Track standard for the Internet.

The group has been trying to arrive at a consensus draft document that outlines what it means when a Web user turns on a Do Not Track signal. Still unresolved and a major point of difference among the group’s members is whether advertising networks and data brokers should be allowed to collect, retain and categorize that browsing data, using small bits of code and other methods that identify each user.

But the decision on ad targeting moves the group, commissioned by the World Wide Web Consortium, or W3C, a step closer to reaching consensus.

“The public meaning of Do Not Track is to limit behavioral advertising,” said Peter P. Swire, a law professor at Ohio State University who is a chairman of the Tracking Protection Working Group, along with Matthias Schunter, principal engineer at the Intel Corporation.