Cookies and AdWords Dept: Privacy Advocates Call For 'Do Not Track' List

[mandy]

A coalition of privacy groups Wednesday called for creation of a "Do Not Track List," that would prohibit advertisers from tracking online movements of consumers. Similar to the popular Do Not Call telephone lists, the Internet proposal comes as online advertising revenues are growing rapidly, providing critical revenue to startups and Web giants such as Google and Yahoo...

Computer users should be notified when their Web surfing is tracked by online advertisers and Web publishers, argue the Consumer Federation of America, the World Privacy Forum and the Center for Democracy and Technology, among other groups in a coalition promoting the idea.

Rather than burying privacy policies in fine print, companies should also disclose them more fully and provide easier ways to opt out, the groups said...

full article: http://ecommercetimes.com/story/Om00FI08...List.xhtml

[mandy]

A related survey finds consumers are clueless about tracking:

Every single move you make online can, and often is, tracked by online marketers and advertising networks that gather and use the information for serving up targeted advertisements.

But the average American consumer is largely unaware that such tracking goes on, the extent to which it is happening or how exactly information is being used...

full article: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.ph...;16;fpid;1

[jezebel]

the average American consumer is largely unaware that such tracking goes on

The average consumer is a mutant tard and has trouble spelling their own name.

[amy]

Did you go to the post office again today?  ;D

[BellisimaJ.]

The average consumer is a mutant tard and has trouble spelling their own name.

AMen.