Would you like a byte of these cookies?
(And they say too much sugar can kill you)
Ok. We are safe. Father Government is here to save us and protect us. But only until a reasonable point. I´m talking about privacy protection and security of the personal information of internet users.
According to the FTC, "...industry efforts to address privacy through self-regulation have been too slow, and up to now have failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.”
We all sort of know what they mean: very few people take time to read the regularly lengthy, lawyery and boring texts of the privacy policy disclosures from most web-sites and applications. People are currently as you read this -hundreds of millions- clicking on the button that says "I agree" without even bothering to read a few lines of what is stated there.
People have been doing this routinarily for a long time, and we should add, that in general, we -because I've myself done this dozens of times- have gotten away with it without much harm. But the truth is, many cookies and other codes to which we are often times exposed, are capable -and in fact do- of "reading" our browsers histories and other personal information we store on our computers. This information is then forwarded and processed to be used by certain parties, without the owners of the information really knowing this is happening, to track our internet behavior and searching habits.
According to the FTC's Chairman, Jon Leibowitz "Technological and business ingenuity have spawned a whole new online culture and vocabulary – email, IMs, apps and blogs – that consumers have come to expect and enjoy. The FTC wants to help ensure that the growing, changing, thriving information marketplace is built on a framework that promotes privacy, transparency, business innovation and consumer choice. We believe that’s what most Americans want as well.”
The FTC is planning on putting an end to this by implementing a "Do not track initiative" Something similar to what has already been done to keep "Telemarketers" form annoying people over and over again with unsolicited promotions and offers; but this time online, which is a more challenging and complex setting for this kind of initiative.
The only thing about this initiative that makes me a bit sckeptical about how promising its implementation would be, is the fact that the words "up to a reasonable point" are all over the text. I'm not sure this is the best way to establish rules, still, I believe we will be much better off after its implementation than we are now.
Indeed there is already some people complaining about this, but in the end, I think most people would perceive this as a good and sound initiative.
In total, something good for them, good for us. Thanks FTC!
According to the FTC, "...industry efforts to address privacy through self-regulation have been too slow, and up to now have failed to provide adequate and meaningful protection.”
We all sort of know what they mean: very few people take time to read the regularly lengthy, lawyery and boring texts of the privacy policy disclosures from most web-sites and applications. People are currently as you read this -hundreds of millions- clicking on the button that says "I agree" without even bothering to read a few lines of what is stated there.
People have been doing this routinarily for a long time, and we should add, that in general, we -because I've myself done this dozens of times- have gotten away with it without much harm. But the truth is, many cookies and other codes to which we are often times exposed, are capable -and in fact do- of "reading" our browsers histories and other personal information we store on our computers. This information is then forwarded and processed to be used by certain parties, without the owners of the information really knowing this is happening, to track our internet behavior and searching habits.
According to the FTC's Chairman, Jon Leibowitz "Technological and business ingenuity have spawned a whole new online culture and vocabulary – email, IMs, apps and blogs – that consumers have come to expect and enjoy. The FTC wants to help ensure that the growing, changing, thriving information marketplace is built on a framework that promotes privacy, transparency, business innovation and consumer choice. We believe that’s what most Americans want as well.”
The FTC is planning on putting an end to this by implementing a "Do not track initiative" Something similar to what has already been done to keep "Telemarketers" form annoying people over and over again with unsolicited promotions and offers; but this time online, which is a more challenging and complex setting for this kind of initiative.
The only thing about this initiative that makes me a bit sckeptical about how promising its implementation would be, is the fact that the words "up to a reasonable point" are all over the text. I'm not sure this is the best way to establish rules, still, I believe we will be much better off after its implementation than we are now.
Indeed there is already some people complaining about this, but in the end, I think most people would perceive this as a good and sound initiative.
In total, something good for them, good for us. Thanks FTC!
