DISQUS

DISQUS Hello! The Technology Liberation Front is using DISQUS, a powerful comment system, to manage its comments. Learn more.

Community Page

The Technology Liberation Front

The Technology Liberation Front is the tech policy blog dedicated to keeping politicians' hands off the 'net and everything else related to technology.
Jump to original thread »
Author

Do Not Track Registry Likely to Include Exemptions

Started by TLF · 11 months ago

Last week a scad of stories from Reuters to News.com covered the growing push for a “Do Not Track” registry similar to the “Do Not Call” list that serves to protect US households from mid-dinner sales calls. While I understand the concerns expressed ... Continue reading »

3 comments

  • The Center for Digital Democracy does not support a do-not-track list. We want federal rules that give individuals control over their data--so it can't be readily used by advertisers or government. The commercial surveillance system put in place tracks and analyzes our activities online. It's not a debate about people selling "duvet covers" via digital marketing. It's preventing, if an individual desires, from having a system used by others that includes sensitive information about our lives (health concerns, political interests, etc). At a time when a growing majority, especially young people, are living their lives online, do we want either Big Brother/Big Sister from Washington or Madison Ave. always peering over our (digital) shoulder?
  • Jeff, sorry if my first paragraph made it sound like you endorsed the plan, which I now you don't. I wanted to state that I empathize with your concerns and that I don't think the list is a good way to address those concerns. So we agree on that front.

    What specifically do you and CDD want to see done on the federal level? The do-not-track list seems flawed, but is there a better solution that can be implemented via federal law?
  • "I think that asking the government to hold a master list of IPs and consumer names is a bad idea, or at least one that won’t do much to really protect consumers."

    The Do-Not-Track list is unfortunately named, as people are led to believe what you just did: that it tracks consumers. It works more like an offender database: it tracks the advertisers, and then the consumer can just download the list and make the choice to protect themselves. So it is quite what you want to be: an easy way for industry to allow consumers to opt-out.

    I blogged about this when the list was first introduced:


    http://infoadvocate.org/blog/2007/11/04/do-not-...

    On your cookie idea, if we create a special kind of cookie that anti-spyware doesn't delete, then malware and trackers will start using it.

Add New Comment

Returning? Login