(2010-12-03) Fcc Do Not Track

Back in July the Wall St Journal launched a "What They Know" series about what data websites/advertisers are gathering about their users (you). I found it unreadable because of its unwillingness to distinguish the obvious/old/mundane like site-specific cookies (which they called "tools") from much creepier behaviors.

The FTC just released its Privacy report. The FTC report specifically endorses the idea of a standardized "DoNotTrack" mechanism that would allow individuals to restrict the flow of their personal data to advertisers.

Here's a summary from Sept20 of the thinking.

Fred Wilson does not agree with the idea. Tracking is the technology behind some of the most powerful Personalization technologies on the Web. A Web without tracking technology would be so much worse for users and consumers. He thinks that cross-site cookies are key to this. But he is in favor of some sort of opt-out mechanism.

Single-site Web Cookie-s seem a non-issue for me. The issue comes with cross-site data integration, plus the selling of data to 3rd parties (vs personalizing ads on that single-site).