A bill of rights for online privacy

David Bicknell

about 1 year ago 0 Comments

One of the things that you may have spotted while browsing is the number of advertisements that now appear in your browser seemingly with your name on them.

For example, I've been searching for details about a cycling holiday, and searching for something on Amazon. Now, I find that my browser is increasingly delivering targeted advertisments based on my browsing habits. I didn't notice it at first, but now the ads are becoming increasingly annoying. You can ignore them of course, but the fact is that they're there because your browsing habits are being tracked.

If you've spotted something similar, then you may be interested in this story from the US, all about a proposed bill of rights.

The article says that Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and AOL will sign up to a "consumer privacy bill of rights" that would bring stronger privacy protections for consumers, as mobile gadgets, Internet services and other tools get better at tracking what you browse and which sites you visit.

In announcing support for the privacy safeguards being proposed by the Obama administration, the companies, which are responsible for delivering nearly 90% of targeted advertisements, have committed themselves to adopting a technology called "Do Not Track" which will start being built into web browsers later this year. I'll be interested to see how this proposal develops and how long it takes, and ultimately, whether the targeted ads disappear. Of course, there will be some people that may welcome the ads that are targeted at them. That's fine - but it would be nice to have a choice.

Do you agree? Have you spotted something similar to my experience when you've been browsing? Please share your thoughts.

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