the existential blues
November 17, 1999
"Rocky Y2K"
The Real Fight of the Millennium
OPERATION OPT-OUT: A NEW CAMPAIGN TO HELP CONSUMERS PROTECT THEIR PRIVACY
Our friends and allies at The Center for Democracy and Technology (normally referred to by their initials: CDT) have opened up a new front in the fight for privacy and freedom. The CDT has long been a leader in the on-going battle for Freedom of Speech on (and off) the Internet. They have also been at the forefront of other privacy and rights issues, especially on the Internet. Regular readers of The Wizard's Freedom of Speech on the Internet Column are very familiar with the CDT and their very aggressive support of the Internet. But the CDT has recognized an even more insidious threat to the public that comes from the new technology.
All on-line businesses are developing and using technology to capture more and more information about your on-line activities. Virtually every web site gathers information about how individuals use the Web. Through the use of cookies and massive interactive databases, web researchers can monitor the sites they visit, the search terms they use and other queries they make.
Naturally you realize they gather information about your on-line purchases. Perhaps you realized they gathered information about your "click through" responses to advertisements.
But it actually goes much further than that. In cooperation with a Web site, but without the permission of the user, these companies place a tag on the individual's computer. This tag -
or identifier - is then used to track an individual's movements surfing the
Web. In addition to compiling long lists of visited sites and pages, a profile may contain "inferential" or "psychographic" data - information that the company infers about users based on their surfing habits. George Orwell's 1984 has finally arrived ~ only 15 years behind schedule.
The CDT's initial response is actually very tame. They have developed a new resource for consumers to "get off the lists" - the
mailing and telephone lists and profiling databases that have proliferated
with the digital economy. Businesses are responding to the rising tide of privacy concerns by allowing consumers to remove their names from (or "opt-out" of) lists that share
personal information.
However, in many cases, it is difficult for consumers to find out how to exercise that choice: it is not easy to find all the
necessary addresses and sometimes the very process of opting-out is a nuisance.
In response, CDT has designed a Web site called "Operation Opt-Out" to help educate and empower consumers. The site includes:
- A system that generates custom letters allowing consumers to opt-out.
- Direct links to companies that afford the ability to opt-out on-line.
- A "Feature" section that will change periodically, including background
information on how different types of companies use consumer information
and what opt-out options they offer.
- General information about getting off lists, and resources for further
investigation by consumers.
The CDT believes that consumers value their privacy and that many more would
opt-out of having their personal information shared and sold if it was easier to do so. The real debate is over whether opt-out is the best way to protect privacy, but in the meantime CDT is making it as simple as possible
for consumers to opt-out.
The Real Battle Goes on Behind the Scenes
Obviously the real question is how we should deal with the increasing ability of technology companies and the government to collect and use information about individuals.
On November 8, CDT Staff Counsel Deirdre Mulligan testified at the Public Workshop on On-line Profiling held by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Commerce. The workshop explored on-line profiling technology; implications of on-line profiling technology for user privacy; and the role of self-regulation. More information on the Workshop can be found at
The Profiling WebPage of the CDT
CDT's testimony detailed how many current on-line profiling technologies pose a significant risk to personal privacy. CDT's testimony is available at The CDT Testimony Web Page
There is a fundamental problem with this fight of the millennium: It's already the forth round, we're down on the canvas and the referee is at the count of eight and we haven't even heard the bell ring. Or, in our conventional ending parlance: maybe we've already had our frontal lobotomy. How would we know? Keep the bottle in front of you......
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