Republicans cool to "do not track" Web plan

[Turborama]

Source: Reuters

Republicans, who will control the House of Representatives in January, greeted the idea of Internet "do not track" legislation coolly on Thursday, expressing concern that hindering advertiser access to consumers web browsing habits would slow innovation.

Their opposition bodes badly for the Federal Trade Commission as it promotes a plan to allow consumers to bar data and advertising companies from monitoring what websites they view and what content they download.

Representative Ed Whitfield, the ranking Republican on the House consumer protection subcommittee, expressed concern that the free services now financed by advertising would be hurt, and that consumers would lose access to ads they want to see. "We need to be mindful not to enact legislation that would hurt a recovering economy," he said at a hearing to discuss the plan.

Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, worried that "do not track" could stifle innovation. "We must first look to self-regulation," he told lawmakers.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B16DT20101202

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I'm a bit behind on all this. Any explanations of what the wider implications are of all this would be appreciated.

[Gman]

1. Lobbyists are so creative with their bullshit to sell their products

"stifle innovation". Gimme a friggin' break.

[BadgerKid]

5. +1; they're trying to make you to do something

that's in favor of them more than they are letting on.

Geez, I must be getting old, being cynical more of the time.

[Crunchy Frog]

2. Hell, they'd vote to implant microchips in us if they thought it would benefit the corporations.

This is the Republican idea of freedom.

[sarcasmo]

7. Now Crunchy, many Democrats are tools of the Corporations as well.

[bethfully]

3. Ahh yes. The "self-regulation" argument.

Because the practice of and reliance upon self-regulation has been met with such positive results in other industries. I'm trying to think of some examples...

Self-regulation is also a term used in psycho-educational circles. If a child continually can't self-regulate, responsible adults don't wake up each day thinking, "I'm sure he/she can do it today"--they understand that certain structural/organizational elements need to be in place to increase the likelihood of success. Dealing with these guys is so frustrating. It's like they have their hands over their ears saying, "I can't hear you. Free market. Self-regulation. Stifling Innovation. Blah blah blah...I can't hear you." I want to write them a damn IEP.

[Drale]

4. I've never seen an ad on the internet

that I wanted to see. That shows that republicans have NO FUCKING IDEA WHAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT!

[Crunchy Frog]

11. Oh, you wanted to see them. You just didn't KNOW that you wanted to see them.

It's nice that there are people out there who know more about what you want than you do, and will do what it takes to make sure you get it.

[boppers]

6. The WSJ ran a whole series on the ecosystem....

Basically, if you visited knitting websites, and then visited a shopping site and looked at capes, when you go to a third site, the advertising there may show you patterns for knitted capes, because they know you're probably into that sort of thing.

Likewise, if somebody else is into monster trucks and craft beer, advertisers aren't going to waste money showing them patterns for knitted capes.

There's a bit of a downside though, in that a fairly detailed profile on a person can be now created, and potentially exploited... they track age, gender, movies watched, income, disease profile, zipcode, weight, diet, fertility status, number of children (etc. etc.)

Here's the first article in the series, which was really quite good, considering the source:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703940904575395073512989404.html

[Turborama]

8. Thank you, that does look like an interesting read. I'm going to check it out.

So, it's a more advanced version of how Gmail's targeted ads work?

[boppers]

9. Massively more advanced and user (rather than text) targeted.

Gmail scans your inbox for keywords. That's pretty simple. This is something altogether more complex.

As you can see in the article (if you haven't gotten there yet), if you look up a health condition, years later, on totally unrelated sites, they'll still be trying to sell you medications. When I was getting married, websites were overloaded with ads for cakes, gowns, photographers, vacations (etc.). If you're overweight, they target ads to you for that. Balding? You guessed it. Gay? Straight? Single? Yup. Auto preferences? Uh huh. Income? Of course. Own vs. Rent? Yup.

[NBachers]

10. Please, Please, don't make me lose access to ads I want to see!

[dballance]

12. Recall Law Banning Video Rental Record Disclosure - They'll Change Minds

As soon as they figure out that all THEIR information is captured and sold they won't be so keen on it. Remember the law banning video rental records. Seems the "good" congrescritters didn't want John Q. Public to know who rented all that S&M porn that made them feel so good.