Online Tracking Business Bizo Backs ’Do Not Track Online’ Rules

By clicking on this article, a reader’s Web browsing data is collected by Omniture (ADBE), Google AdSense (GOOG), Quintelligence, ChartBeat, VoiceFive Networks, and dozens of other marketing and analytics businesses. That’s according to analysis by Ghostery, a browser plug-in that detects hidden scripts running on Web pages. Readers needn’t worry, though, because the data -- browser type, demographics, language settings, page views -- is anonymous. In fact, this type of data collection is standard practice for just about every website on the Internet. Marketers use it to deliver more relevant ads to users. It would be better, privacy advocates argue, if users could opt out of being tracked or at least see what data is being collected. Eighty percent of general election voters in the U.S. support a “Do Not Track” list, according to a 1,000-person poll released last July by nonprofit advocacy group Consumer Watchdog.

Now lawmakers are looking to impose rules that take those online privacy concerns into account, with three “Do Not Track Online” bills making their way through Congress. The first, Representative Jackie Speier’s (D-Calif.) bill, introduced in February, requires advertisers to disclose what information is collected and how it’s used, as well as provide tools that enable users to block data collection. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) introduced a similar bill in April and Senator John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) brought forward a third bill on May 9. Lawmakers, privacy advocates, and industry leaders expect a version of the legislation to be signed into law in the near future but are vague on specifics.