Online privacy and "do not track" - from Consumer Watchdog

[Glia]

More of a status update (and donation request) than an action appeal.
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I'm just finishing up reading the Federal Trade Commission's landmark report, "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change," but wanted to take a minute to tell you that it's a big victory for Consumer Watchdog.

We've been waging war for the last two years to raise the idea of a Do Not Track mechanism to the top of the to-do list for privacy reforms. I've taken the argument to traditional outlets like newspapers, television and radio. We've used satirical videos, demonstrations on Capitol Hill and in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and giant digital billboards in New York's Times Square and Washington D.C. to make our point.

This week the FTC called on online companies to adopt Do Not Track. As FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz made clear to the New York Times:

“Do Not Track from our perspective certainly means ‘do not collect’ — not ‘do not advertise back.’ If a real Do Not Track option doesn’t come to fruition by the end of the year, there will be, I don’t want to say a tsunami of support for Do Not Track legislation next Congress, but certainly a lot of support.”

The privacy report also called for legislation that would guarantee your privacy rights as well as a law that would regulate the murky world of data brokers. Clearly there is an emerging consensus in Washington about the need to do something to protect your online privacy.

I am confident that, with the FTC's ringing endorsement, you will have a meaningful Do Not Track option to help protect your privacy when you go on line by the end of this year.