Yes its true. I didnt believe it at first either, but the FTC is actually trying to help consumers online with a proposal and rulebook/framework, companies should follow when collecting data about consumers. "This proposal is intended to inform policymakers, including Congress, as they develop solutions, policies, and potential laws governing privacy, and guide and motivate industry as it develops more robust and effective best practices and self-regulatory guidelines”
Some of the ways it plans to protect consumes is by including "reasonable security for consumer data, limited collection and retention of such data, and reasonable procedures to promote data accuracy". This all seams fine but it is highly dependant on what the definition of "reasonably" means.
For us in the tech world though i think the main focus is going to be on what this "Do Not Track" mechanism is it going to be. Could it be a button on browsers that lets you go invisible for a period of time or forever? and if it is dont we already have something similar to that on the big three browsers already (IE, Firefox and Chrome). Internet Explorer has in "InPrivate" browsing, Firefox doesnt have a name for it, it just gives the option for private browsing under the tools tab and Chrome has the cleverly named "incognito window".
This would be a little different in that it would be like a flag or billboard saying to the outside world and business dont track me! As opposed to not keeping cookies and other tracking data on your own machine for others on the client side to see.
If this type of option were given right on the browser i dont think marketers and businesses would be happy about it because i think everyone would have the "Do Not Track" option/button on by default everytime they get online. Think about it not many people know there browsing habits are being tracked all the time ( and if they do they dont think much of it) and if something were to say it as bluntly as "Do Not Track" as soon as they logged on i think thats the first button they would press even before doing something as common as checking email.
Thats not to say everyone is doing something "illegal" or "wrong" online its just a matter of personal privacy. It would be like having an invisible floating camera follow you around everyday and then one day someone tells you about it and gives you the option to remove it. Again everyone would be smashing that camera ("Do Not Track") regardless of whether it was helpful to you in the past or not.
So again this issue isnt one sided. As a consumer its good (anything that helps prevent Identity theft and fraud is good); as a business its leaning towards the more work and resources side which makes it a little more negative... what do you guys think?
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Tommy, I think your right about businesses not liking the "Do Not Track" option. Mozilla had developed this option for their Firefox browser but scrapped the project because they feared a possible backlash from marketing companies that they have partnered with. I'm all for this option and hope we get it in the future, I'm not a fan of being "tracked" for marketing/advertising purposes.
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