Agency Proposes ‘Do Not Track’ Option for Web Users

Saying that online companies have failed to protect the privacy of Internet users, the Federal Trade Commission recommended a broad framework for commercial use of Web consumer data, including a simple and universal “do not track” mechanism that would essentially give consumers the type of control they gained over marketers with the national “do not call” registry.
Those measures, if widely implemented, could directly affect the billions of dollars in business done by online advertising companies and by technology giants like Google that collect highly targeted information about consumers that can be used to deliver personalized advertising to them.
While the report is critical of many current industry practices, the commission will probably need the help of Congress to enact some of its recommendations. For now, the trade commission hopes to adopt an approach that it calls “privacy by design,” where companies are required to build privacy protections into their everyday business practices.
“Despite some good actors, self-regulation of privacy has not worked adequately and is not working adequately for Americans consumers,” Jon Leibowitz, the chairman of the trade commission, said. “We’d like to see companies work a lot faster to make consumer choice easier.”
Many of the problems that the F.T.C. is trying to tackle involve third parties that use technology to surreptitiously follow a user around the Web, collecting data and then selling it, usually without the user being aware of the effort.

　これが実現すれば「おススメ！」機能を表示できなくすることが可能になりますね。確かにネット広告にとっては大きなダメージです。