Do Not Track May Come by Year's End

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A do-not-track mechanism in development in conjunction with online ad industry stakeholders may be implemented by the end of the year. That's according to Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz, who spoke today during a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on "The Need for Privacy Protections."

We're "optimistic" that a DNT mechanism "will be in place by the end of the year," said Leibowitz (left).

In February, the ad industry's self-regulatory privacy coalition joined with the U.S. Commerce Department and FTC to plan for a browser-based DNT standard. At the time, the industry group - the Digital Advertising Alliance - had begun working with the major browser companies to start the process. The DAA currently runs the industry's digital ad icon program, which allows people to learn more about data tracked for advertising and allows them to opt out from some tracking.

Expect the devil to be in the details of the DNT system. Key to agreement from industry, privacy advocates, and government entities will be whether the DNT mechanism allows people to opt out from all data tracking. The online ad industry and publishers insist that tracking for site measurement and basic ad-related tracking enabling frequency capping of ads should not be inhibited by the system in development.

Leibowitz suggested today that could be a sticking point. "Do-not-track has to mean do-not-collect if it's going to mean anything," he said.

In April, DAA and other industry representatives joined privacy advocates and engineers in Washington, D.C. for a three-day W3C meeting to discuss plans for development of a browser-based privacy preferences header. W3C, or World Wide Web Consortium, is an international body that develops web standards.

Commerce Committee member Senator John Kerry, a Democrat, used the hearing to plug bipartisan privacy legislation he co-sponsored with Republican Senator John McCain. And, Commerce Department General Counsel Cameron Kerry mentioned the department has created a working group to put baseline privacy goals into legislative language.

The Commerce Department's Kerry said he supports giving the FTC the authority to enforce the department's Privacy Bill of Rights. The consumer privacy bill of rights principles would give individual control over types of data collected, require transparency on data use, and allow consumers to access and ensure data accuracy.

With Congress distracted by a contentious election season this year, passage of any of the several privacy bills that have been introduced in recent years may have to wait until next year.