Ben Kunz of Bloomberg BusinessWeek writes:
There’s a great moment in All The President’s Men, the film based on the 1970s Watergate investigation, in which the inside source known only as Deep Throat tells Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward to “follow the money.”
Analyzing financial flows and motivation can unearth secrets, Woodward found. So let’s take a look at the big money behind the Federal Trade Commission’s Do Not Track proposal.
[…]
Trouble is, while the commission may have consumers’ best interests at heart [or be motivated by desire to toss a feel-good political football in a transition election year), the idea has two huge problems:
- It won’t stop online ads. While Do Not Call lists kept telemarketers at bay, you’ll still see tons of banners and videos everywhere online. They’ll simply be less relevant.
Do Not Track will send billions of dollars to the big online publishers, hurting the little sites you might find most interesting.
Read more on MSNBC.