During a media course in college, my professor informed the class that anything we did online could not only be tracked, but was probably being monitored and someone was always watching what you were doing. Apart from the fact that this professor was a complete wackjob, he did have a valid point.
Nowadays you can pretty much find anything you want online. You can dig up cached pages, find pictures that friends thought they deleted and have information discovered about yourself when someone Googles you before a date.
So is this all bad? I’d say no. With the convenience and benefits of the mass sharing of information, some pitfalls should be expected. I’m willing to have my activity monitored as long as I can have access to other’s online activity and use that data to target marketing campaigns.
If only congress felt the same way.
The House subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet met Thursday to discuss new online privacy legislations for ISP-based and behavioral ad targeting technologies. Here is the opening statement from Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Rick Boucher:
“The thought that a network operator could track a user’s every move on the Internet, record the details of every search and read every email or attached document is alarming.”
The focus of the meeting then turned to an act from 2002 that never made it through legislation – Cliff Stearns’ Consumer Privacy Protection Act. This act would require data collectors to notify consumers about data collection and usage.
The committee would like this act to be the guide for a future online privacy bill that would require data collectors to disclose the information they are gathering and how they will use and also enables consumers to act on this notification.
Stearns did acknowledge that overreaching privacy regulation could have a negative effect on business. He then went on to say that search engines and ad networks should also be considered for regulation.
Industry reps that attended the meeting voiced their concerns and stated that new legislation may not be necessary. Loopt, who was present, said business needs to be at the table if and when the law is written.
For now, no bill has been passed or drafted. Similar hearings on the matter are expected to be held sometime this summer.
