The FCC Says It Can't Force Google and Facebook To Stop Tracking Their Users (washingtonpost.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The FCC announced that it will not prevent Facebook, Google, and other websites from not honoring users' Do Not Track requests that make it difficult for them to track online activities. The Washington Post reports: "The announcement is a blow to privacy advocates who had petitioned the agency for stronger Internet privacy rules. But it's a win for many Silicon Valley companies whose business models rely on monetizing Internet users' personal data. It's also the latest move in an ongoing battle to defend the agency's new net neutrality rules, which opponents warned would result in the regulation of popular Web sites and online services. By rejecting the petition, the FCC likely hopes to defuse that argument. The rules, which took effect this summer, allow the FCC to regulate only providers of Internet access, not individual Web sites, said a senior agency official."

Comments

Because it's the FTC's job, not the FCC's.

[tlambert]

Because it's the FTC's job, not the FCC's.

The Federal Trade Commission regulates things like this -- business interactions with customers -- in the same way it regulates the federal Do Not Call list.

If you are asking the FCC to regulate this, you are asking the wrong regulatory body; you might as well be asking the FDA to regulate it, because you think that being tracked all the time is injurious to people's mental health.

Re:But we can

[JustAnotherOldGuy]

Then:
Users: hey can you please stop tracking us so much?
Social Media: screw you

Now:
Social Media: hey please don't use stuff to block our tracking thanks
Users: screw you