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

terribly sorry

[Anonymous Coward]

I am in a pinch right now, and I know that this is COMPLETELY OFFTOPIC, but I was wondering if slashdot will help me out anyway. A company I work for just fired an employee that is most like to be pretty belligerent. Our biggest worry is that he is going to call the SBA. We realize that some of our software is not legal, and we have actually been working on bringing our office up to code. However, we are not there yet. We are not a big company, and one fine of 150,000$ will put us out of business. If the SBA gets a tip on one of their hotlines, do they even bother to investigate small businesses? We have about 40 employees and about 8 computers. I thought I had heard once that if you call the SBA yourself, they will help you get up to code without fining you, but I couldn't find anything online about that. Anybody out there with some experience with the Software Business Alliance that can help me out? Thanks!

Re:unrealistic goals

[sm62704]

Considering that the wonderful US Congress can't even get a reasonable anti-spam law in place and instead created one that makes the problem WORSE

You don't understand, the CAN SPAM act does exactly what it is intended to do: it makes it so that you can spam with impunity.

See, what you're forgetting is that we have the best government money can buy. Vote? HA! What's one measly vote against a ten million dollar campaign contribution (ironically from an entity that is not allowed by law to vote).

"Your" representatives don't represent you, they represent fine American corporations like Sony, BP, Shell, etc. who now can spam without fear of the law. Who do you think paid for this law, anyway?

-mcgrew