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Regulation Possible Over Internet Tracking

As most people know, virtually every move we make on the Internet is tracked by online publishers, advertisers and ad networks — and users have no simple ways to prevent it from happening. While a few companies have offered an online Do Not Track technologies, there is no universal method to enjoin companies from harvesting our personal data.

That's one reason that Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John D. Rockefeller, (D-WV), according to The Washington Post"is sponsoring a bill that would direct the FTC to write binding, industry-wide Do Not Track rules. There are similar bills in the House and the California legislature." Said Rockefeller at a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing on privacy and data security, "I want ordinary consumers to know what is being done with their personal information, and I want to give them the power to do something about it."

Senator John Kerry (D-MA), chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet, "called for stronger Internet protections for consumers, saying a privacy bill of rights is needed because of data security breaches and the sale of consumer information collected on the Web."

Rockefeller and others are responding to growing citizen alarm. "... privacy watchdogs and lawmakers" wrote The Post, "are stepping up the pressure, calling for laws that would require companies to stop the digital surveillance of consumers who don't want to be tracked."

Under Threat of Regulation, Tech Industry Takes on Challenge of Internet Privacy (Washington Post Politics)

Kerry Urges Privacy Protections