Re: WSJ on Microsoft's No Not Track

On Mon, 2011-03-14 at 17:37 -0700, David Singer wrote:
> from the article:
> 
> But the system will only work if tracking companies agree to respect visitors' requests. So far, no companies have publicly agreed to participate in the system.
> The Interactive Advertising Bureau, which represents the online advertising industry, says its members do not know how to respond to a do-not-track request, known as a header.
> "There is no context to a do-not-track header, no common definitions, no standard operating procedures for how the thousands or even millions of entities that receive the header might detect or react to such a signal," said Mike Zaneis, general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau.
> 
> 
> Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703363904576200981919667762.html#ixzz1Gce29G4m
> 
> Is this a problem or an opportunity? :-)

And by way of contrast the European experiment on requiring opt-in is
due to come into force this May. This is the 2009 amendment to the
European e-Privacy directive 2009/136/EC which requires websites to have
the explicit consent of users for being tracked, see:

  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12668552

Could this presage the spread of online loyalty schemes analogous to
those in the retail business, where users are invited to sign up in
exchange for clearly defined benefits, see e.g.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loyalty_program
 
-- 
 Dave Raggett <dsr@w3.org> http://www.w3.org/People/Raggett

Received on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 10:12:31 UTC