The White House defended the protection of Internet users
The U.S. Senate debate a proposal to regulate the activities of the companies that collect and sell information from the Web.
All we ever received a catalog in the mail from a shop where we have never been. And brands deals we've ever eaten. The business strategy also exists on the internet, but in a much less regulated legal. Consumers do not know where it ends and begins its protection the right of a company to store and exploit data on them.
In the U.S., 96% of the population accesses the Internet, according to the Pew Research Center. Every time you turn the browser on your computer or connect to a page on your mobile phone, your steps are recorded. With a less advanced laws in Europe, the fingerprint with consumer habits, preferences and location has a price: the companies that put dedicated to gather this information and then sell to advertisers.
However, erase that footprint is in the hands of the user. The data in our account of Facebook are, in fact, Facebook. Google decides how, where and for how long keep our information. Twitter messages are written by users, but the last owner is Twitter.
The Obama wants to create an Internet bill of rights you have finished the hole. From Wednesday, the Commerce Committee U.S. Senate debate a proposal that has the support of White House: a law that protects users from companies that collect and sell information about your Internet activities.
"I think consumers should be able to understand and control what information is being collected and how it will be used," said Senator John Rockefeller of West Virginia before the Committee on Commerce and Science. "If you're in a mall, you can prevent a person record all shops to enter, consult books or products you purchase. Should not consumers and Internet users have the same protection?".
An ambitious proposal
The initiative comes at a time of great concern on the rights of consumers on the Internet, the activities of companies operating safeguards your data and privacy protection. The Federal Communications Commission (FTC, for its acronym in English) and published a report last December with a series of recommendations to protect the Internet user.
According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal and close to the proposal, the White House supported the bill based on suggestions from the FTC. This is the first time in U.S. history that a president supports legislation on Internet privacy.
The proposed Do Not Track (no track), unveiled by The Wall Street Journal, would create a system in which companies would be required to request access to user information, ask if they want will save your information and consult when they want to sell their data for a purpose other than that for which they were collected. Users, meanwhile, have access to their data, a guarantee that these are stored with sufficient protection and the option of refusing to be tracking your habits navigation.
In practice, companies like Amazon store, for example, could "remember" your search history to improve your shopping experience, but not sell such information to third parties.
Data from pages that you access the Internet, including sites visited between them-the time spent on them, the products that we, our usernames and passwords, latest entries we bought for a concert or the place where we went on vacation are stored by the so-called cookies. These cookies are installed programs in the browser of your computer that make surfing the Internet effectively.
But in recent years have increased the companies involved to obtain that information and sell it later. There are companies called data mining. The business of selling small amounts of data to advertisers. They can hire ad space on websites to which they agree, even repeat the announcement when we move from one page to another to increase their effectiveness.
In response to the proliferation of these activities, the U.S. FTC in December proposed creating a system that allows Internet browsers to refuse to save their data. Is the Opt-Out system, which has already been installed browsers like Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla or Internet Explorer 9. But it is voluntary and only removes the advertising.
The proposed Do Not Track welcomes the initiatives of the programs, but requires going beyond. "There are strict enough to be applicable to all system companies that choose to participate in the restrictions," criticizes Chrome, the Google browser. "The solution goes beyond privacy by requiring the user to choose between access to content or protect their data," criticizes Internet Explorer, Microsoft.
According Do Not track, the current solution lacks rigor, is not sufficiently broad and too complex for users. In the case of Google, for example, Internet users must access the configuration panel of your accounts and specify what data you can save your browser. "When a consumer requires that the browser will not store your information, advertisers and content providers from other companies should adhere to that request," goes the proposal.
Impulse
U.S. Congress United not debate about privacy on the Internet from the Clinton administration in the 90's. "The 11-S attacks changed everything," says Peter Swire, an expert of the Center for American Progress and an adviser to Clinton on the Internet. "The Bush administration has put all his attention on sharing information and destroyed all efforts to protect user data."
According Swire, the current environment favors the proposal to prevent Internet personalized advertising. The first initiative has support from Democrats, Republicans and for the first time, also from the White House.
source: elpais.com
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