|  | | | Privacy | | |
| | Internet Privacy Standards (According to Google and Microsoft)
The big news in the tech industry this week is the fight over the future of Yahoo. But there's a sideshow worth watching for those interested in Washington tech policy: Today is the last day of the Federal Trade Commission's public comment period on online privacy principles and behavioral advertising.
Not surprisingly, the two biggest figures in the wheeling and dealing over Yahoo's future play a big role here, too. Both have submitted comments on the FTC rules, and the differences between them may demarcate the future lines of the debate.
First a very quick definition: Behavioral advertising is the collection and use of information about Internet users’ web browsing behavior to target them for advertising purposes.
To use a very extreme example, behavioral advertising could mean that advertising companies could compile databases detailing whether someone visits web sites focusing on religion, medical, or sexual-orientation matters — and then use that information to tailor ads to that person, even after he has moved on to other web site | Mining of Data Prompted Fight Over U.S. Spying
By SCOTT SHANE and DAVID JOHNSTON - Published: July 29, 2007
A 2004 dispute over secret surveillance involved searches of vast electronic databases, officials briefed on the program said. | College Bescherming Persoonsgegevens (CBP) - Het CBP houdt toezicht op de naleving van wetten die het gebruik van persoonsgegevens regelen. Het CBP houdt dus toezicht op de naleving en toepassing van de Wet bescherming persoonsgegevens (Wbp), de Wet politieregisters (Wpolr) en de Wet gemeentelijke basisadministratie (Wet GBA). | The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (PRC) is a nonprofit consumer organization with a two-part mission -- consumer information and consumer advocacy. It was established in 1992 and is based in San Diego, California. It is primarily grant-supported and serves individuals nationwide. | Symantec CEO says Internet tracking programs are digital peeping Toms - By Associated Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Cookies to collect Internet user data are a serious invasion of privacy, Symantec chief executive John Thompson said Wednesday, likening them to ''a peeping Tom.''
The head of the security software vendor said he thought cookies were essentially spyware if people are unaware that a program has been downloaded on their machine to record the sites they visit and do not know what will be done with that information.
They ''are just as much an invasion of privacy as someone peering in my bedroom window,'' he said.
''I don't have an issue with people having cookies on their machine as long as I've been told one just got planted there,'' he said. ''I think there is an opt-in option here that should be available to everyone.''
''I think it's important for those of us who are in the business of protecting consumers to speak up on their behalf,'' he said. ''What's the difference between a peeping Tom in the physical world and a cookie prying into my private affairs in the digital world?''
Thompson was in Brussels to speak to EU regulators about Internet security and data privacy issues among others.
He would not say if he thought the European Commission should flex its muscles on making cookies an on-demand option, merely saying ''if the EU felt that was a problem, they might want to insert themselves here.'' | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
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