Here’s another perspective on last week’s statement by the FCC that they wouldn’t force giants like Google and Amazon to honor Do Not Track (DNT) requests in browsers. Jeremy Gillula writes:
Everybody knows we here at EFF are big fans of Do Not Track (an HTTP header users can have their web browsers send to websites, indicating that they don’t want the websites to track them). That’s why we developed Privacy Badger, a browser extension that blocks third parties that don’t honor Do Not Track (DNT) requests. It’s also why we continue to expand our DNT Coalition—a group of companies and organizations who have committed to honor DNT requests on their websites.
So when the FCC announced last week that [PDF] it would not create regulations requiring Internet “edge providers”1 like Google, Facebook, or Amazon to honor DNT requests, you might expect us to be outraged, arguing that the FCC had abandoned users’ privacy to the proverbial wolves. But in this case we think the FCC actually made the right call.
Simply put, while the FCC can and should have rules of the road for ISPs, the agency should not be in the business of regulating websites – no matter how laudable its intentions.
Read more on EFF.