Privacy Groups Mull 'Do Not Track' List for Internet

Technical Writing Geek writes with a Reuters story about a collection of privacy groups looking to set up a 'Do Not Track' list online, similar to the 'Do Not Call' list meant to dissuade telemarketing. "Computer users should be notified when their Web surfing is tracked by online advertisers and Web publishers, argue the Consumer Federation of America, the World Privacy Forum and the Center for Democracy and Technology, among other groups in a coalition promoting the idea. Rather than burying privacy policies in fine print, companies should also disclose them more fully and provide easier ways to opt out, the groups said. The organizations submitted the proposals to the Federal Trade Commission, ahead of the consumer watchdog agency's workshop on Nov. 1-2 to study the increasing use of tracking technology to target online ads.

Comments

(yawn) Yet another pre-defeated proposal

[Arrogant-Bastard]

Sometimes I find myself idly wondering how many miserable failures of opt-out proposals will be necessary before people get a clue that opt-in offers the only possible way to success.

Then I snap out of it and remind myself that of course some people have a clue, and that's precisely why they continue to put these proposals out (or to enthusiastically back them): doing so serves their purposes nicely. It allows them to proudly say that "they've taken the lead in protecting privacy" while of course they're doing everything they possibly can to do the opposite. (They do this, of course, because they're well aware that few people would opt-in to have telemarketers bother them, or to have spammers clog their mailboxes, or to have their personal data collected.)

This situation is unlikely to change in the forseeable future. Just as it's given us ineffective anti-telemarketing measures, just as it's given us ineffective anti-spam measures, the outcome of this process will inevitably give us ineffective anti-privacy-invasion measures.

Which is why it's probably best to just ignore this nonsense and instead use technological means to either deny data to invaders or feed them bogus data.