Most of us accept that at least some of our privacy is not very private once we go online, and certainly businesses have cashed in over the years, tracking our movements online.
“There’s a lot of money in knowing who we are, where we are and what we want to buy at any given time and all of these companies are fighting to figure that out,” said MSNBC.com Technology Writer Bob Sullivan.
The Federal Trade Commission has drawn up a privacy bill of rights that also gives consumers a right to know what information is collected about them online.
“Respecting consumers’ privacy and protecting their personal data online encourages trust in internet commerce,” said John Leibowitz, Chairman of Federal Trade Commission.
It also calls for stronger privacy preferences like “do-not-track” which browsers already offer, but now with a promise from those who do online tracking.
“Until today, you didn’t have as sure a guarantee that those preferences would be honored by advertisers,” said Paul Reynolds of Consumer Reports.
Another component of the proposal is the ability to opt-out of having your online activity tracked.
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