Currently the Federal Trade Commission is trying to come up with a solution to protect our right to privacy, but will it be effective? I believe that the FTC's mechanism will fail. Two major reasons stick out to me: 1) the terms are vague to implement 2) the online advertising industry will take a major hit.
The proposed mechanism allows the user to stop advertising companies from tracking their web browsing activities.The system gives the user the option to keep some data from being collected, however the guidelines which the FTC proposed do not clearly layout the proper guidelines that these advertising companies should follow when handling the personal information that we voluntarily hand over. The FTC defended their system, saying that it will have a similar impact as the national do-not-call registry, but many believe that the two cannot be compared. One of the major reasons is that although everyone has a distinct telephone number, computers are constantly changing ip addresses. Another problem is that companies such as Amazon and Facebook, which have different methods of collecting data, are not included in the proposal.
On top of that, the industry that will be effected will find away around it. Online advertising is an industry that brings in $12.1 billion in revenue, and companies all around are currently scrambling to find a way to make sure that this number doesn't fall. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, this system will put an estimated $300 billion of U.S. economic activity, which these advertising companies help promote, at risk.
The proposal will go under a two month evaluation, in which they will receive recommendations so that the FTC can improve the already created platform. Hopefully the FTC will realize that they need to come up with a better policy.
This is a very interesting post, and asks the same question that came to my mind. Will this online tracking really work? As I wrote about in my recent blog on the same subject, I have subscribed to the Do Not Call Registry and to the Do Not Mail registry and although I don't get telemarketers calling me much (because I cancelled my landline), I still get a mailbox full of junk every day. In order for the "Do Not Track" to work, the FTC will have to police hundreds of advertising companies who are seeking out our information. Furthermore, you made a good point that because technology is always changing, advertisers will find new ways not covered by the policy to reach out to customers.
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