The New York Times reports today on a report, and a call from the FTC for new legislation from Congress, to rein in the huge industry that mines data collected from Internet consumers. The report, "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: Recommendations for Businesses and Policymakers," is the result of many comments from people in the privacy consultation business as well as comments from people in the business of selling the data mined from consumers.
The FTC is withstanding pressure from the folks who are making tons of money with your data and mine, to call upon Congress to pass a law, which would allow them to regulate the industry further. It may not be a simple matter of track or do not track... Consumers may simply want more transparency about what data is collected and how it's used. And they may want some say about what data they allow to be collected and how it will be used, not simply ban all collecting.
After all, most of us understand that the targeted advertising that powers "free" websites like Google, depend upon some level of consumer data. And everybody likes "free" searching!
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