If consumers don’t completely get it, the government hasn’t a clue. The Federal Trade Commission decided it would be a good idea to make businesses provide an “opt-out” mechanism for the commercial collection of personal information online. It should come as no surprise that the approved self-regulation plan was submitted by the Network Advertising Initiative, a consortium of Internet advertising companies.
Cookies can only communicate between your computer and the website on which the cookie originated. Advertising networks like DoubleClick are able to aggregate user information because their cookies originate on most any large-company website that carries advertising. When I point my browser at WebMD.com to research end-stage renal disease, DoubleClick sets a cookie on my computer (assuming I’m dumb enough to configure my browser to accept cookies). Then, a day later, when I point my browser at my insurance company who also carries ads from the DoubleClick network, DoubleClick is able to put together that someone researching end-stage renal disease is insured by the insurance company. Further, DoubleClick would be able to identify me if any of the websites to which I have provided personal information also participate in the DoubleClick network. Think about that for a minute. Then ponder the ramifications of DoubleClick’s Abacus Alliance program, in which the company intends to merge its personally identifiable online data with its enormous offline database that contains records on some 80 million U.S. households. According to DoubleClick’s privacy policy, the merged database will contain an alarming level of personal information detail including each user’s “name, address, retail, catalog and online purchase histories, and demographic data.”
Businesses believe, rightly, that most folks wouldn’t agree to have their personal information and online behavior tracked, warehoused, bartered, and sold if asked for permission. So far, these businesses have been successful in convincing the politicians that they have a right to profit from the use our personal information. Unfortunately, most laws in America are based solely on preserving and enhancing corporate interests. I guess we get the government we paid for. Oh, wait, I guess it’s more accurate to say that the corporations got the government they paid for.
In Europe, the situation with regard to personal privacy is much more civilized. Personal information is owned solely by the subject of the information in European Union countries and the EU acknowledges privacy as a basic human right. For European Citizens, data protection directives are clearly outlined. In short, information collected may not be used for any other purpose without the informed consent of the subject of the information.
Some American businesses are beginning to take a more enlightened approach to their customers’ privacy. Hewlett-Packard’s CEO, Carly Fiorina, last month called for government regulators to establish privacy regulations. “There is a role for legislation that sets a minimum set of requirements to create a foundation that is minimally acceptable,” she told attendees of the Progress and Freedom Foundation’s Aspen Summit.
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