FTC Wants Browsers To Block Online Tracking 205
Posted
by
samzenpus
from the poof-just-like-that-he's-gone dept.
from the poof-just-like-that-he's-gone dept.
storagedude writes "The FTC wants a do-not-track mechanism that would allow Web users to opt out of online behavioral tracking, similar to the national do-not-call registry. The agency's preferred method for accomplishing this would be a browser-based tool that would give users the option of blocking data collection across the Web. The only problem is that the agency may not have the authority to require this, thanks to concerted lobbying efforts by the advertising industry. The first step may just be voluntary measures, to be released this fall."
why Opt-out? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:why Opt-out? (Score:3, Insightful)
Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:why Opt-out? (Score:4, Insightful)
So now it's impossible to advertise without tracking?
(fricking /. time limit! I can perfectly write a meaningful response in 5 seconds.)
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Because if you disable cookies - you cannot log in to any website. Hardly practical.
a lesson for libertarians (Score:5, Insightful)
and assorted free market fundamentalists:
you need government regulations. you want to pay taxes for the legions of government bureaucrats toiling away somewhere interfering with business
because without such regulation business will trample your rights
you heard me correctly: the government protects your rights and corporations trample them. i'm sorry of this idea contrasts with certain brands of low brain wattage propaganda about the government trampling your rights: if the paranoid schizophrenic fantasies of certain right wing zealots ever come to fruition, those abuses will not happen at the hands of washington dc, they will happen at the hands of large corporate entities
why are the politicians interests (Score:5, Insightful)
separate form their constituents interests?
because of infection of the government by corporate money
read the first sentence:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
We. The. People.
to the extent that the interests of the corporations are more important to the politicians than the interests of we the people, is the extent to which that government MUST BE CLEANED UP, not destroyed
your position is this: you see a sick person in front of you (the government). your solution is to condemn the sick person, rather than treat him for the disease
"At least a "greedy" corporation is putting people to work"
additionally, you completely absolve the disease of any wrongdoing for the fact that the patient is sick
it just blows my fucking mind, its fucking incredible: that some people should see the corporate infection of our government and conclude the only solution is to destroy the government!
the only thing standing between us and the infection that is the real source of the abuse of our rights is the government. it needs to be CLEANED UP, not DESTROYED, or then all of the abuses you see GET WORSE. that really is the truth. wake the fuck up
if government is weak (Score:5, Insightful)
then there is a power vacuum
that power vacuum will be filled by corporations, who will employ blackwater private security forces against individual liberty
am i talking science fiction?
no, i'm talking HISTORICAL AMERICAN FACT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinkerton_National_Detective_Agency [wikipedia.org]
why is it that so many free market fundamentalists forget about the banking panics in the 1800s (no regulations=bubbles and pops... hello 2008)? why do so many libertarians ignore the abuses of individual liberties by corporations in the gilded age (corporations, not governments, remove your liberties)? why do so many right wing small government zealots completely ignore the hard fought and hard won protections for workers in the 1800s? (40 hour work week, minimum wage, etc... you think these ideas were not developed in an atmosphere of constant abuse of the individual by corporations?)
fact, solid motherfucking fact: corporations will abuse your individual liberties as much as they can in the pursuit of the buck. they ARE NOT BEHOLDEN TO YOU. you NEED the government as your protector with all those regulations and enforcement, or YOU WILL BE ABUSED. to the extent that the government has been coopted by corporate interests and infected from the inside is the extent YOU NEED TO CLEAN UP YOUR GOVERNMENT OF CORPORATE INFECTION...not destroy the only entity which keeps the REAL abusers from defiling your rights!
corporations are the single greatest abusers of individual liberties. government is your only source of protection from those abuses. you NEED a strong central government, or every abuse you detest will be visited upon you MORE
so stop working to DESTROY government, start working to CLEAN UP government
if you argue for smaller government, in the name of individual liberties, the real world effect of your efforts is increased abuses of individual liberties, because you do not understand who the real abusers are
if the patient is sick, don't kill the patient and let the disease spread, treat the patient of the disease and stop the spread of the disease. fight the disease, not the patient. the patient is YOUR government, the disease is corporate dollars
read the first fucking sentence:
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
WE. THE. PEOPLE. to the extent that the government is not we the people is the extent to which it has been corrupted by corporate dollars. so get rid of the corporate dollars, not the government!
reclaim YOUR government from corporate infection and make it a more effective tool in protecting your rights and freedoms from the real abusers: corporations who would destroy your rights and freedoms, and have done so in the past, and will happily do so again in the pursuit of more profit, if there is only a weak ineffective government between them and more profit
CLEAN UP GOVERNMENT. DON'T DESTROY THE ONLY THING THAT PROTECTS YOU FROM THE REAL ABUSERS OF YOUR RIGHTS
Re:why Opt-out? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Why????? (Score:3, Insightful)
Is there *any* evidence that the data collected has ever been misused in any way?
I don't particularly care if the data is misused because I don't agree with the method of data collection to begin with. I don't need people tracking my actions to see how to advertise to me. Advertisements are annoying. Advertisers should be tracking products or sales, not individuals.
Before the government starts regulating an industry, shouldn't there be evidence that the industry is in fact in need of regulating?
I support the FTC being proactive and considering preventative action. Should we wait for a crime to be committed before we make it illegal?
Disclaimer: I work in an advertising company
I'm sorry. I'll pray for you.
Re:the cookie exists on my machine (Score:2, Insightful)
You claim to value "freedom", "individual liberty", and the rights you have regarding your private property ... yet you consistently attack libertarians and look to big government as your savior?
The inconsistency in your world view is so absurd that I'm forced to consider the possibility that you have a vested interest in the expansion of government power.
The historical record demonstrates beyond question that government power and their monopoly on the use of force has been the instrument used to trample on the "freedom" and "individual liberty" of people, deprive them of their private property at gunpoint (or spear point) and imprison, torture, and murder them by the millions.
If you think the contemporary United States is somehow special in this regard, look no further than the Patriot Act, military commissions act, warrantless wiretapping, secret prisons, extraordinary rendition, "enhanced interrogation techniques", and the executive branch claiming the power to imprison accused "terrorists" without due process, and to assassinate U.S. citizens who are merely "suspected" of terrorist activity.
If you are unable to see that the greatest threat to your life, liberty and property is the power of the state, you should self-apply some of the innumerable insults about ignorance and idiocy that you've hurled in the direction of those of us who really value our freedom.
absolutely (Score:4, Insightful)
since the dawn of time, the rights of the INDIVIDUAL are pitted against the rights of the GROUP
pretty much the entire history of mankind is a narrative about this essential struggle
so some ancient greeks, a few others, and finally some american colonists said "hey, this abuse by the group sucks, but we still have to coordinate our activities if we are to survive as a strong entity able to fend off such abuse by large injust groups. so how do we do that? maybe this democracy thing, hmmm..."
and so began a silly experiment called democracy, which has always been messy, always imperfect, but still better than lying down and accepting horrible abuse at the hands of a group
so what i am saying is: yes, the government abused your rights, is abusing your rights, and will always abuse your rights. i understand and agree with that assessment completely, and offer no lala land tales about the wonderful joys of big government: i am not an idiot. but at least, in a democracy, in theory IT IS ACCOUNTABLE TO YOU and you have CIVIL AND LEGAL AVENUES FOR RECOURSE. you don't have to pick up a gun or throw a molotov cocktail to address your grievances. you can stand on a soap box or start a blog or a lawsuit instead. and if enough people agree with you, you begin to see satisfactory justice for your abuse, without violence
what about corporations? who or what are they accountable to? answer: profit, greed, make more bucks AT ANY COST. a corporation will clearly trample your rights in order to get more profit. a government will also trample your rights for various random goals. but only one of those entities allows you to say "this is not fair!" and if enough of your fellow citizens agree with you, the abuse is addressed, reversed, and not allowed
see my point?
because democracy is imperfect is no reason to accept something clearly worse. because the government nibbles your toes is no reason to accept or see as superior a world in which corporations gnaw your fingers off
Re:why Opt-out? (Score:3, Insightful)
The analogy would be the advertisements companies putting a RFID tag in your car, that would be detected by each billboard you happened to pass by. Would you be OK with that level of location tracking?
Yes.
That's not to say I'd let them just put the thing in my car without compensating me in some way. But that's not what you asked.
I wouldn't.
Turns out the world doesn't revolve around you.
Since advertising is inevitable on the web, if you want sites to continue to provide (otherwise) free content, than I'm all for tracking behavior across sites. It means more targeted ads, which means higher ad rates, which means fewer ads overall. Think about it.
And reverse the scenario: what information are you so afraid of divulging? "Oh he went to cnn.com then he went to foxnews.com! WHAT A SCANDAL!" Is that what you imagine would happen? Nobody looks at the data at a personally-identifiable level because:
1) There's too much of it anyway
2) They can't do a better job sorting it out manually than the computers can automatically
3) Nobody gives a shit about what you do on the web
Also note that reputable ad servers do not host ads on porn sites, and porn ad servers do not host ads on reputable sites. So there's *no* data that links your cnn.com visit to hotdonkeyporn.com, if that's what you're nervous about. You pervert.
Look, be concerned about your rights eroding. I'm all for that, and I approve. And if you seriously don't like cookie-level tracking, well, then you already have the option to turn off cookies and Flash and do without it. But please, please, sit down and *think* about the situation for awhile.
Ads are good for the Internet. Content doesn't just magically appear. Targeted ads are better than untargeted ads. Targeted ads are fewer than untargeted ads. Stop knee-jerking, and *think*.