Remember “Do Not Track”? It’s the option that was added to browsers maybe 5 years ago to “tell” web sites to not monitor your activities. That has as much chance of happening as your local supermarket not having bar code scanners.
FCC says No to demand for web control
The FCC has no power to regulate the content on the Internet. Only an idiot would think it’s a good idea. If you visit web sites in Europe, you’ll sometimes get a warning that your activities are being tracked by a cookie and asks for your consent.
When Mozilla added this feature, I made the point here of what the Internet would look like without tracking. Much of the dubious value of this web site is because I aggregate activity to show the most active radio shows, and list the most popular first. People who enabled “do not tracking” saw the list of what is on now sorted alphabetically. The which show is up, which is down and graphs were not available.
If I can’t track, I can’t prevent fraud. Some Michael Savsge fan might set up an auto clicker and try to create extra “popularity”. Today, not only does that not work, if you try it, the web site automatically bans you.
This alleged “consumer watchdog” group wants Google and Facebook to not track if you demand it. What is the “or else?” The FCC is not even an Executive branch agency. It has no police powers. Creating a website does not require a government license, so the FCC has nothing it can revoke. The group also wants it to be illegal to withhold content if a web site refuses to offer its content to people who turn on Do Not Track.
The group tries to draw an analogy to the Do Not Call registry. Apparently the group has the FCC confused with the FTC.
Be careful what you ask for. You might get it.
John Ron and his brother Mo are at the center of this movement 🙂