US Administration Moves To Start Consumer Privacy Legislation

[engine]

US Administration Moves To Start Consumer Privacy Legislation [news.cnet.com]

President promises privacy legislation and says Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are committed to working with Do Not Track technology in browsers.

The Obama administration plans to work with Congress to enact legislation to protect peoples' online privacy based on a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights being unveiled tomorrow.

At the same time, Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL are committing to work with Do Not Track technology in most major Web browsers so people can stop companies from tracking them as they bounce around the Internet, the administration said in a statement.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

While it may be noble of government to insist public companies protect our privacy the truth is that government will undoubtedly take this opportunity to grant themselves more wide reaching monitoring powers.

If ANY "spying" is allowed, by anyone, without a warrant we will be no better off.

...based on a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights being unveiled tomorrow

We already have rights, this new bill cannot over-ride existing rights unless we don't speak up. You will want to read that new consumer privacy bill for any sign that spying is being approved without warrant(by a judge, cause being criminal). If Canada's version of this bill is any indication big brother just wants to watch everyone when and how they see fit. Also, Canada disguised this change by veiling it under an "anti-child predator" act and the U.S. may very well be doing it under a "protect your privacy from everyone else but us" guise. I wonder if gov will restore my faith or destroy it further tomorrow.

[incrediBILL]

Do Not Track technology?

We can already dump cookies, what kind of legislative garbage is this?

If cookie dumping isn't good enough, you can get a local proxy server that completely sanitizes all your content, or you can use online services that so the same.

We certainly don't need legislation for what technology already provides.

Except when it comes to cell phones... and THAT wasn't even a browser issue!

[celgins]

The government already monitors U.S. Internet traffic, so it's not like they need to create a hidden portion of a new bill to grant themselves the authority to do that.

If cookie dumping isn't good enough, you can get a local proxy server that completely sanitizes all your content, or you can use online services that so the same.

I don't think the average user bothers (or knows how to) dump cookies. I think the single, magic button approach is what the Do Not Track effort is striving for.

[travelin cat]

Bill, pretty much everyone here on WebmasterWorld knows this, but what percent of the population are we? I venture to guess that there are 10's of millions of people that have no idea what you are talking about. Most of them just know how to turn the computers on and off and where to check for emails.

[albo]

My only curiosity is, what will be the technical (or, should I say, "legal", heh) definition of "tracking", and what will be the explicit motivation not to do it?

[4serendipity]

My only curiosity is, what will be the technical (or, should I say, "legal", heh) definition of "tracking", and what will be the explicit motivation not to do it?

Yes, these things can get awfully fuzzy very quickly. I'd like to believe that this is an earnest effort and just not an election year gimmick. But every since Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act, my skepticism has taken over.

[incrediBILL]

Well the average user shouldn't be on the web if they don't know how to use it!

Would stop phishing and spam keeping the idiots off the 'net.

Just like people need to be licensed to drive a damn car, so should they to get online.

[ember]

incredibill, if the average user, dumb as he may be, weren't on the web, most of us would not be making money doing what we do.

[J_RaD]

Well the average user shouldn't be on the web if they don't know how to use it!

ok well there goes your target market, have fun playing with your website that gets 5 visits a month.

[lexipixel]

..yeah, forget about it, (privacy that is). The genie is out of the bottle. The only way data mining will stop, (online and off), is if you pay cash, never create any type of accounts with your real name, (for online accounts, offline store discount cards, email lists, etc, etc, etc.)...

How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did
Every time you go shopping, you share intimate details about your consumption patterns with retailers. And many of those retailers are studying those details to figure out what you like, what you need, and which coupons are most likely to make you happy. Target, for example, has figured out how to data-mine its way into your womb, to figure out whether you have a baby on the way long before you need to start buying diapers.

[forbes.com...]

[aleksl]

incrediBill: Do Not Track technology?

We can already dump cookies, what kind of legislative garbage is this?

If cookie dumping isn't good enough, you can get a local proxy server that completely sanitizes all your content, or you can use online services that so the same.

If one thinks that by dumping cookies and using a silly anonymizer / proxy they are somehow hiding their identity from the real threat (and that is alphabet agencies and the .Gov), then ones ideas of how the web is built, functions and can be tracked are DELUSIONAL.

IncrediBill, your IP is locked by your ISP, by Google, even here where we post Google's +1 and another alphabet agencie's "Twitter" tweet javascript buttons are grabbing what you are doing and putting onto the tracking servers of some ECHELON network or the football field-size datacenters in Maryland. THat, along with all the URLs you visited, all your emails that aren't encrypted etc. will build a nice profile of yours. DO not worry a bit, just delete cookies.