FTC proposes 'Do Not Track' tool

WASHINGTON - Federal regulators are proposing to create a "Do Not Track" tool for the Internet so that consumers could prevent marketers from tracking their Web-browsing habits and other behavior in order to target advertising.

The proposal, inspired by the government's "Do Not Call" registry for telemarketers, is among the recommendations outlined in a privacy report released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission. The report lays out a broad framework for protecting consumer privacy online and off-line as personal-data collection becomes ubiquitous - often without consumer knowledge.

The FTC hopes the report will help guide the marketing industry as it develops self-regulatory principles to define acceptable corporate behavior. The FTC also is trying to influence lawmakers and other policymakers as they draft rules of the road to protect privacy. The agency has limited authority to write those rules itself, so regulations will likely require congressional action.

Protecting consumer privacy, the agency says, is critical because marketers - particularly online marketers - are increasingly analyzing the websites that consumers visit, the links they click, Internet searches, online and off-line purchases, the physical locations of wireless devices and all sorts of personal information disclosed on social-networking sites.

So far, FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz said Wednesday, the marketing industry has not done nearly enough to ensure that consumers understand what personal information is being collected about them or to give them adequate control over that data collection.

The agency envisions a Do Not Track tool as one important way to let consumers decline, or "opt out" of, much of the tracking that occurs online - a practice the industry calls behavioral advertising. The tool would most likely take the form of a browser setting that would apply across the board as consumers jump from site to site. It would clearly inform sites when tracking and targeted advertising are off limits for a particular browser.

Leibowitz, who first floated the idea of Do Not Track last summer, said that although the technology has not yet been widely deployed for consumers, browser companies are experimenting with it. And lawmakers do appear interested in the concept. Bobby Rush, chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee that deals with consumer-protection issues, will hold a hearing on potential Do Not Track legislation Thursday.