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

Correct me if I'm wrong

[techpawn]

Won't this damage a lot of adSense technology already in place by non-evil companies? Also, would this apply to browsers keeping history of where you've been?

Re:They'll track the denied tracking.

[UbuntuDupe]

While they will be able to track the cookie, if hundreds of thousands of people are using that same cookie, the data is not going to mean much.

On the contrary, it will give us aggregate web surfing statistics for paranoid privacy loons ;-)