More and more people surfing on the Internet are now worried that their information is being tracked, used and shared without being aware of it. Often the information of an individual is being used by marketers so they can more efficiently target their advertising to each person, by studying their habits and behaviors. But how can this be controlled and regulated?
The Federal Trade Commission came up at the beginning of the month with a framework of recommendations to protect consumer's privacy on the Internet. According to the report made by the FTC, data is sometimes collected in an unclear and irresponsible manner. The FTC is calling for more ''reasonable'' security, access and procedures; but what would ''reasonable security'' mean in that context? When reading the proposal it seems that first the FTC is only focusing on current issues and not projecting into the future; but mainly from my point of view none of those recommendations are really going to solve the problem.
One interesting recommendation brought by the FTC is the creation of a Do-Not-Track option; which would allow the consumer to refuse the collection of their information for targeted marketing. Even if the idea seems attractive, I don't believe it would necessarly be a good idea. First does that really mean that your information will not be used? This would be hard to believe. Also are companies going to be willing to follow this recommendation, considering the potential for sales increase using behavioral marketing? Ideally, there should be a compromise between the consumers and the companies on this issue, where there would be more information protection for the consumer; but also enough information available for the companies to operate effectively.
