Adam Thierer writes:
As part of what Politico’s Tony Romm calls this week’s “all-out online privacy blitzkrieg,” Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass) announced he would be proposing legislation aimed at better protecting kids from the supposed evils of online “tracking” and marketing. Apparently, Rep. Markey’s effort will build on the “Do Not Track” proposal that is garnering so much attention this week.
Lost in the smoke surrounding that privacy blitzkrieg is an important distinction between these two proposals: There is a very big difference between re-engineering browsers and websites to comply with a “Do Not Track” mandate and a new regulatory scheme aimed at identifying the ages or identities of individuals using certain online sites or services. Namely, the latter likely necessitates some sort of mandatory age verification or online authentication regime for the Internet.
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