May 6, 2011 07:57 GMT  ·  By

Google is the only major browser developer that directly opposes a bill that would force companies to respect people's explicit wish of not being tracked online.

The Chrome maker has put its name on a list of organizations lobbying against the adoption of California Senate Bill 761, which would require companies to provide consumers with a method of opting-out from the collection, usage or storage of their data.

The bill was introduced back in February by California State Senator Alan Lowenthal and is sponsored by Consumer Watchdog. Earlier this week it passed a vote in the Senate's judicial committee.

Under the new law the California Attorney General would be authorized to write the exact regulations and responsibilities for companies.

Back in December, the Federal Trade Commission expressed concern about the state of consumer privacy online and called for a uniform solution in browsers that would allow users to express their desire of not being tracked.

As it stands now, with industry self-regulation, users need to add individual do-not-track cookies from tens of companies that provide such an opt-out mechanism. In addition of being complicated this process doesn't protect consumers from advertisers that don't participate in self-regulation programs.

Microsoft, Firefox and Apple have all implemented or are on their way to implement an option in their browsers that would send a Do-Not-Track (DNT) HTTP header with each request informing websites about the user's choice not to be tracked.

The only major browser maker that hasn't implemented this opt-out mechanism is Chrome, and now it's clear that Google is opposed to the whole idea. Of course, this is most likely a revenue-driven decision.

Since most of its income comes from advertising Google would stand to lose a lot if people start opting out from behavioral advertising en-masse.

In a letter sent to Senator Lewnthal, a group of organizations that oppose SB 761, Google included, claim that this law is unnecessary, will harm California's Internet economy and innovation, is unenforceable, singles out advertising companies, and would be costly to the state.