New report calls for online privacy bill of rights

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Commerce Department is calling for the creation of a "privacy bill of rights" for Internet users to set ground rules for companies that collect consumer data online and use that information for marketing and other purposes.

The proposal, outlined in a Commerce Department report Thursday, is intended to address growing unease about the vast amounts of personal information that companies are scooping up on the Net - from Web browsing habits to smart phone locations to Facebook preferences. That data is often mined to target advertising.

The Commerce Department proposal is intended to guide lawmakers, industry and a White House group looking at issues of privacy and Internet policy.

It comes two weeks after the Federal Trade Commission recommended the creation of a "Do Not Track" tool to let consumers stop or restrict advertisers from studying their online activity - including the websites they visit, the links they click, their Internet searches and their online purchases - in order to target ads.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/16/AR2010121602726.html?hpid=moreheadlines

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