The Electronic Frontier Foundation is getting behind the browser technology "Do Not Track" proposal being championed by the Federal Trade Commission and others to protect online privacy.
The FTC in December said it was trying to get the online industry to protect basic privacy with a Do Not Track system. "Companies are using [private] information in innovative ways to provide consumers with new and better products and services. Although many of these companies manage consumer information responsibly, some appear to treat it in an irresponsible or even reckless manner. And while recent announcements of privacy innovations by a range of companies are encouraging, many companies - both online and offline - do not adequately address consumer privacy interests," the FTC stated.
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What the FTC would like to see become widespread is the use of Do-Not-Track list that Web users could sign up with that would prohibit websites and advertising networks from following their movements online, the FTC report stated. Such a list would be similar to the national do-not-call list that makes it illegal for telemarketers to randomly call consumers. A "Do Not Track" browser setting would serve as an easy, one-stop shop force consumers to express their choices, rather than on a company-by-company or industry-by-industry basis. Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and Apple have already experimented with this, the FTC stated.
Such a Do-Not-Track list would need to be implemented by the online world voluntarily or by the US Congress, the FTC said.
The EFF this week said it had submitted comments to the Department of Commerce Internet Policy Task Force, urging the department to embrace the system and support legislation that would authorize the Federal Trade Commission to act on Do Not Track.
From the EFF: "Do Not Track will help consumers fight against the largely invisible, poorly understood, and continually escalating surveillance of their online activities. Not only would Internet users have the opportunity to opt-out of online tracking for advertising and marketing purposes, but the browser-header-based system would also help increase transparency and understanding by standardizing expectations. We all know that privacy policies on websites are hard to understand at best, making them unhelpful tools when it comes to making decisions about using a site or application. With a Do Not Track system, businesses will have a clear way to know what each consumer expects of them, and force them to disclose practices that are contrary to those expectations. "
Such a move however is not popular with everyone in the industry as you might imagine. According to an IDG News Service report: "Some House Republicans and representatives of Symantec and Time Warner Cable raised questions about a do-not-track tool during the December hearing. Widespread blocking of targeted ads could cause significant damage to the online ad business and could bring an end to many free services online, some Republicans said. Representative Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, feels Web tracking can provide "valuable information" to websites and ad networks.
"These benefits are not just limited to businesses-consumers can enjoy a personalized Web experience and receive ads tailored to their interests without having to search through sales pitches," he said. Behavioral advertising also "benefits the Internet itself, because it helps underwrite the cost of these sites that consumers enjoy, with many of the services provided for free."
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