Californian senator proposes bill for obligatory ‘do not track’ function in browsers

The Californian state senate, op 26 April, will hold an initial hearing on a bill that would permit internet users to prevent their online behaviour from being tracked. With the bill, Democratic senator Alan Lowental aims to support internet users in protecting their privacy.

According to Lowental, internet users could do with some extra protection of their privacy. “Nearly 80% of Californians use the Internet and nearly 45% use Facebook, including myself. But, today, millions of Californians are unaware that their online behavior is being tracked, their data collected and sold to advertisers."

Details on what the do-not-track function would look like are not yet revealed. The state attorney general would get the authority to demand that a simple, easy to use method will be developed with which users can disable cookies and other tracking software. Disputes about infringement of the regulation would fall to a civil court.

California is the first of the United States to try and make such a proposal into law. On a federal level there is a similar initiative, but the roads in Washington are notoriously long and sticky. “We will lead and provide stimulus to the rest of the nation," said Lowenthal said. "It's much more difficult to get something like this through Washington." The senator feels that the bill has a fair chance, as the Californian legislature is dominated by democrats at the moment.

California was the first state in the US to create a do-not-call register. The new versions of three much-used browsers, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox and Chrome already have a do-not-track function, but these aren’t always very user friendly. Furthermore, websites are not obliged to cooperate with these schemes.

Online advertisers and technology companies do not support the bill. They fear that their income will reduce, but also that the development of relevant services and advertisement based on behaviour. These firms argue that consumers also benefit from web shops that store information about previous purchases or news sites that show articles based on behaviourally based preferences.

Source: LA Times