Chris Weigant proposes a great idea I must endorse and pass on in We Need a 'Do Not Track' List. Building on he "Do-Not-Call Implemenation Act" passed by the Republican House and Senate, and signed by a Republican president over a decade ago, Weigant demands we provide citizens the same opportunity to protect our internet privacy with a do not track list. 72 percent of Americans have registered for the Do-not-call list.
Many Senators are now outraged to discover the CIA may have possibly been spying on them. Perhaps, this new found interest in our Forth Amendment rights provides us with a "teachable moment" to remind ourselves of the vast amount of information third party commercial companies are collecting on us in databases being sold to anyone willing to pay. This could include not just advertisers, but also your future employers, landlords, clubs, inlaws, relationships, special interest groups you protest against, marginally sane anti-xxxxx vigilantes, countries you criticize, etc.
Last week, CBS ran a segment on 60 Minutes about how much we are tracked online. "Data brokers" know an amazing array of things about anyone who surfs the web with any regularity, and they will happily sell this information to anyone who wishes to purchase it. The list of information tracked was a long and detailed one: name, sex, birthdate, religion, medical history (including prescription purchases), sexual preferences, what you buy, where you go, where you live, and so on. Also recently in the news was a story about companies that do nothing but track license plates of all the cars on public roads. They amass license plate data and then sell it, which together with vehicle registration records, gives any purchaser a complete record of everyone's travel. These days, it's hard to identify any piece of data which isn't tracked for hundreds of millions of Americans on an ongoing basis. ...
We need a "Do Not Track" list, to compliment the "Do Not Call" registry. How it would work would be simple. You would go to a website (or call a number) and add your name to the list, on a voluntary basis. Nobody would be forced to use the list if they didn't want to, in other words, just like the Do Not Call list. On the website, you would make your own choices about what you didn't want tracked. You could list your name, or your computer's I.P. address, or your vehicle license number. There might be a row of checkboxes to select what level of privacy you desired, containing things like your birth date or your prescription drug records. The amount of information you provide would be entirely up to you. If you didn't want to add your license plate number, then you could still have your name or your computer on the Do Not Track list, or vice versa.
Once on such a list, third-party private companies could not track your data. Period. Any data brokers would have to scrub their databases of everyone on the list before selling their data to any third party. This would include people who track website usage, medical data, license plate data, phone data, and any other personal data collected by a company without the consumer's knowledge.
When I went to Google's database to put my name on their voluntary do-not-track list, I discovered I have to let them install a permanent "cookie" on my computer so they can now not to store all of my searches, and other information. WTH?
I agree with Chris Weigant, I do not want unknown third parties tracking, storing, and selling data about my personal life. I bet we could get bipartisan support for such legislation.