Tech
FTC commissioner: Rules coming on Web privacy
Welcome words from the FTC on online tracking and behavioral advertising. “People should have dominion over their computers,” FTC commissioner Jon Leibowitz said.
Welcome words from the FTC on online tracking and behavioral advertising.
“People should have dominion over their computers,” FTC commissioner Jon Leibowitz said. “The current ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ in online tracking and profiling has to end.”
Speaking at an FTC forum on targeting advertising, Leibowitz said the FTC may have to formulate rules about privacy policies. Those rules could include an opt-in policy, The Times reported.
“When you’re surfing the Internet, you never know who is peering over your shoulder or how many marketers are watching."
Leibowitz said the FTC was moving quickly to make a decision about the Google-DoubleClick merger, but that decision is based on antitrust, not privacy, considerations, Reuters reported.
"Our staff is working through the matter as expeditiously as possible given the complexity of the matter," Leibowitz said. But "(the review) can't be about privacy, per se."
Leibowitz's comments followed an opening salvo by Jeffrey Chester, of the Center for Digital Democracy, who said, according to IT World:
Online advertisers are adopting an "ever-growing sophisticated array of ploys to track our every move. Few members of the public understand what's going on, that ... our mouse clicks are tabulated and stored and sold to the highest bidder."