Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Survey Shows Support For New Privacy Laws

Posted by Soulskill on from the internet-is-a-series-of-transparent-tubes dept.

GovTechGuy writes "Two-thirds of consumers want the government to safeguard their privacy online and 81 percent want to add their names to a Do Not Track list, according to a May poll released Tuesday by Consumers Union. In addition, over 80 percent of respondents were concerned that companies may be sharing their personal information with third parties without their permission. The survey's release comes just one day before a Senate Commerce Committee hearing where lawmakers will hear testimony on three data privacy bills currently in front of the Senate."

11 of 80 comments (clear)

  1. Never mind consumers by overshoot · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How many corporations are behind this? That's the only question that counts.

    --
    Lacking <sarcasm> tags, /. substitutes moderation as "Troll."
    1. Re:Never mind consumers by base3 · · Score: 2

      Exactly -- while a mandatory "do not track" seems all well and good, I'm sure that compliance hurdles that shut out small players could be of benefit in certain quarters. That, and without a "Great Firewall of 'Merica," it would be unenforceable because the companies that wanted to track could just use offshore servers.

      --
      One CPU cycle wasted on digital restrictions management is ONE TOO MANY.
    2. Re:Never mind consumers by madhatter256 · · Score: 2

      Companies like facebook, google, etc. don't mine the data. They produce the data. There are a few big corporations none of us have heard of that do nothing but mine personal data. They are linked to our credit bureaus, some of which are subsidiaries. These companies sell to marketing firms, which in turn try and sell you stuff.

      It's a big industry and it's not going away. Someone has to sell you something you might buy.

      --
      Previewing comments are for sissies!
    3. Re:Never mind consumers by mcgrew · · Score: 2

      To hell with "do not track" and "do not call" lists, I'd like to see legislation that would make tracking and sphone spam opt-in, making it a felony with prison time for sociopathic corporations' CEOs and boards of directors who ignore the law.

      County Market supermarket wants to stalk me, but at least I have to agree to it. Why is it legal for a corporation to stalk me, but a felony for a human being to?

      I got phone spam on my cell phone last week; 20 calls from the same telemarketers (302-394-6964, a telemarketing outfit in Deleware). It was just an annoyance to me, as I have a flat-fee no-minutes plan, but it would have cost most people money. These scumbag asshole sociopaths belong behind bars.

      --
      Free Martian Whores!
    4. Re:Never mind consumers by black+soap · · Score: 2

      They should get booted by their local phone provider, the same way the RIAA want filesharers booted by their ISP.

  2. Probably not by Errol+backfiring · · Score: 2

    Probably not, Because such a list should at least identify you. I find such a list just too stupid for words, because you first have to be identified to be looked up on the list, while I don't want to be identified at all.

    --
    Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
  3. Re:What were the survey questions? by Joce640k · · Score: 2

    how can they keep track of you being on the list?

    Simple: They keep a list of everybody (with full names, email addresses, etc.) and give a copy to anybody who's thinking of violating the privacy laws.

    --
    No sig today...
  4. Re:What were the survey questions? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 3, Interesting

    We could get totally crazy and trying 'opt-in' rather than 'opt-out'...

  5. Easier to Pollute Data than Erase It? by retroworks · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd volunteer to be put on a list of "false positives", records that I'd bought everything from women's shoes to AC/DC videos. Nature rarely designs invisibility, but camouflage is everywhere. If enough people got on a false positive list, creating false cookies and records and interests, wouldn't that have the same effect as privacy? And wouldn't it be cheaper? Seems like you could even have a program running silently in another browser clicking on interest in new cars, home mortgages, health care, etc. and it would confuse the hell out of the data collectors.

    --
    Gently reply
  6. Re:False Positives by TaoPhoenix · · Score: 2

    Good try, but False Positives are deadly. Reason: you can't deny them!

    "Retroworks is a terrorist! Prove you're not." The whole Security Theater adventure is fueled by false positives.

    --
    My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
  7. Yes Minister by Frankie70 · · Score: 2

    You can get a survey to get any result - Check a href="http://users.aims.ac.za/~mackay/probability/survey.html"

    If your survey question is "Do you support Privacy Laws" - the answer will be Yes. "Do you want the Govt to prevent terrorism or protect the children" - the answer will again be Yes.