14 DAY TRIAL // Senator John Rockefeller (D-W.Va) plans to introduce a new do-not-track bill next week that will provide an easy way for consumers to inform companies they don't want their online behavior tracked.
Details about the contents of the bill, called the Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011, are slim at the moment because the text has not been yet published.
"Consumers have a right to know when and how their personal and sensitive information is being used online -- and most importantly to be able to say 'no thanks' when companies seek to gather that information without their approval," Mr. Rockefeller, who is the Chairman of the Senate's Commerce Committee, said, according to AdAge.
"This bill will offer a simple, straightforward way for people to stop companies from tracking their every move on the internet," he concluded.
However, it is expected for the bill to allow companies to collect the minimum information they require for their services to function. Anti-do-not-track lobbyists, which include most advertising industry associations and big names like Google, argue the collected information allows them to provide better services and that restricting it will stifle innovation.
At the moment, consumers can opt-out of behavioral advertising by installing so-called opt-out cookies from tens of individual advertising networks, a process that is both complicated and obscure.
Major browser vendors, except Google and Opera, have worked on developing and implementing a clear and uniform do-not-track option that can be turned on from their product's privacy controls. It is believed that Sen. Rockefeller's bill draws from this new option.
The number of advertising companies that currently self-regulate when it comes to offering do-not-track is limited, because these programs are voluntary. The Do-Not-Track Online Act of 2011 would give the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) the power to take action against offenders.
A separate privacy bill already introduced by Senators John McCain and John Kerry also attempts to tackle the do-not-track issue, but is much more friendly towards advertisers and pretty much regulates the current system.
Because of this, privacy rights groups, including Consumer Watchdog, Center for Digital Democracy, Consumer Action Privacy Rights Clearinghouse and Privacy Times, announced that they do not support it.