FTC in Charge of Net Ads? -- and Opt-In vs. Opt Out

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
Date: July 29, 2010 5:29:53 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: FTC in Charge of Net Ads? -- and Opt-In vs. Opt Out



            FTC in Charge of Net Ads? -- and Opt-In vs. Opt Out

               http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000737.html


Greetings.  Word is that the U.S. FTC (Federal Trade Commission) is
seriously toying with the concept of establishing some sort of
Internet "do-not-track" list to ostensibly control Web ads that
involve behavioral targeting and/or user tracking 
( http://bit.ly/asPzds [ecommerce-guide] )

Outside of the fact that it's not entirely clear that the FTC has this
authority per se, and in the maximal case would only have purview over
U.S. sites (the Internet is international the last time I checked),
the concept of trying to create such a list strikes me basically as
undesirable and impractical -- for both policy and technical reasons.

I'll have much more to say about this later, but as a starting point
let's consider these issues:

 - How effective has the phone solicitation "do-not-call" list really
   been?  In my experience and based on anecdotal evidence -- despite
   claims from some quarters of vastly reduced solicitations -- the
   reality is that the calls just keep on comin'.  And the phone-based
   list deals with the comparatively simple target of phone numbers, not
   the complexities of Web sites.

 - How do we actually define "tracking" and "ad targeting" in a
   rapidly evolving Internet environment?  This is actually a very
   complicated matter.

 - Are ads that are generally less targeted and more "scattershot" a
   net plus or minus for consumers?

 - If ads lose significant value, what are the ramifications for the
   largely "free services" model that most Internet users have come to
   expect on the Web?

 - How could a broad inter-site list of this sort be implemented
   without creating unacceptable privacy and security challenges
   carrying the potential for unintended negative consequences?

And so on.

My sense is that the concept of an Internet "do-not-track" list of the
type under discussion represents largely the same sort of mostly
(though not entirely) political posturing that was behind the
telephone-based "do not call" concept, and that the practical issues
and problems with such a plan for the Internet are vast.

At this juncture it might also be useful to mention again an important
paper I first noted some months ago -- "Opt-In Dystopias" -- which
explores in depth how seemingly obvious issues of "opt-in" vs.
"opt-out" in reality can be far more complex and subtle than they
might appear to be initially.  This paper should be required reading
for anyone interested in or involved with these issues
( http://bit.ly/c3VQiX [ PDF - Local copy hosted on Lauren's Blog ] ).

More to come.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein (lauren () vortex com)
http://www.vortex.com/lauren
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
Co-Founder, PFIR (People For Internet Responsibility): http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, NNSquad (Network Neutrality Squad): http://www.nnsquad.org
Founder, GCTIP (Global Coalition for Transparent Internet Performance): 
  http://www.gctip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum: http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/laurenweinstein
Google Buzz: http://bit.ly/lauren-buzz




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