PC World – Online tracking is a hot topic these days, with the Obama administration and the Federal Trade Commission calling for tougher online privacy protections. The FTC recently issued a report urging voluntary practices for online businesses regarding data collection. Another popular proposal suggests building a universal do-not-track function into future Web browsers.
The proposed universal do-not-track tool won’t be particularly robust, since it would simply make your browser send a “please don’t track me” request to a website. Given the past misbehaviors of Internet behemoths such as Facebook and Google, it’s hard to put much faith in a solution that depends on the best intentions of site owners.
Nevertheless, that’s the gist of the FTC’s appeal to Internet businesses for voluntary cooperation. Specifically, the agency suggests that privacy controls should be incorporated into new products and services by design (including that do-not-track feature in every browser, perhaps); that consumers should have simple ways to control their personal information; and that corporate data-collection practices should be transparent.
On balance, however, most of us pay via our eyeballs and our personal data for the majority of the information we access online. Targeted ads–sometimes laughably off-base, sometimes appropriate based on demographics–pop up on many sites in lieu of a paywall. If you really hate the ads, or if you don’t want to share anything about yourself and your browsing habits, you might shell out for ad-free access to a site.
The key here is the call for transparency. Sites commonly use cookies, a bit of code, to recognize you the next time you return. In some cases, cookies are an important part of the way the Web works. You couldn’t click a Facebook “Like” button and have it work automatically, for example, without a cookie from the social network determining that you were signed in to Facebook.
But some cookies follow you around the Web. These tracking cookies, stashed in your browser, note your browsing habits and online activity, and can help a tracking company determine appropriate ads. Companies may serve up the ads directly, or sell your data.
The FTC’s proposals ask that privacy be the default, that sites’ collection habits be clear, and that browsers provide some protection from tracking–but remember, those are all just suggestions.
If you really want to stop sites from tracking you, and if you don’t want to rely on a site’s goodwill, you can turn to several browser add-ons that will shield your Web browsing habits from a host of advertising and behavioral-tracking technologies–or at least alert you to their interest, and enable you to grant or reject the request.
Article source: http://rss.computerworld.com/~r/computerworld/s/feed/topic/17/~3/HToqOzuiK44/Do_Not_Track_Tools_Hands_On_Showdown
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