White House announces new privacy "Bill of Rights," Do Not Track agreement

[DainBramaged]

Saying "American consumers can't wait any longer" for better privacy rules, President Obama took the wraps off his administration's framework for new privacy regulations. As part of its big reveal, the White House also announced the first product of that framework: the completion of an industry agreement on "Do Not Track" technology for behavior-based web advertising.

The blueprint, outlined in an administration white paper, includes a "Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights"—a set of principles intended to guide how businesses handle consumers' personal information—and steps to incorporate those principles into federal regulations. The blueprint includes negotiating a set of practices with industry, consumer protection and privacy advocates, plus other "stakeholders" in privacy policy. The practices will then be enforceable by the Federal Trade Commission.

The "Do Not Track" agreement is a first step toward that model. Signed by a group of web advertising networks and "leading Internet companies," including Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and AOL, the agreement will lead to the adoption of Do Not Track features integrated into web browsers. This will allow consumers to opt out of behavior-based marketing, blocking advertiser's tracking "cookies." The companies signing off on the agreement account for delivery of nearly 90 percent of behavior-based advertisement, according to White House figures. The companies entered into the agreement voluntarily, but now are subject to the Federal Trade Commission's oversight and enforcement of its terms.

FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said of the agreement in a statement: “It’s great to see that companies are stepping up to our challenge to protect privacy so consumers have greater choice and control over how they are tracked online. More needs to be done, but the work they have done so far is very encouraging.”

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/02/white-house-announces-new-privacy-bill-of-rights-do-not-track-agreement.ars