Released: October 31, 2007
Groups recommend ‘Do Not Track List’
Call for more consumer control of online behavioral tracking
WASHINGTON—A group of nine privacy organizations – the Center for Democracy and Technology, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Privacy Activism, Public Information Research, Privacy Journal, Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, and World Privacy Forum – asked the Federal Trade Commission today to provide needed consumer protections in the behavioral advertising sector. The groups have asked the FTC to implement a “Do Not Track List” intended to protect consumers from having their online activities unknowingly tracked, stored, and used by marketers and advertising networks.
The Do Not Track List, which would function much like the national “Do Not Call” list, is one of several consumer privacy protections the group asked the FTC to adopt as part of a broad effort to correct a privacy imbalance that has deprived Americans of the ability to control their own valuable personal information. The groups offered the recommendations in a letter to the Commission in advance of its two-day town hall, “Ehavioral Advertising: Tracking, Targeting, and Technology” on Nov. 1-2. Click here to download a PDF copy of the letter.
The letter also recommends:
- The adoption of a new definition of “personally identifiable informatn” updated to reflect the realities of today’s Internet;
- Providing more robust disclosures to consumers about behavioral tracking;
- Ensuring that information about consumer privacy and choices is available to all individuals, including those who have visual, hearing, or other disabilities;
- Independent auditing of those engaged in behavioral tracking to ensure adherence to privacy standards;
- Providing consumers with access to personally identifiable information collected about them by companies engaged in behavioral tracking;
- Prohibiting advertisers from collecting and using personally identifiable information about health, financial activities, and other sensitive data; and
- Establishing a national “Online Consumer Protection Advisory Committee.”