FTC echoes public siren call for De-Personalized Web

This week it's been made plain over and over again that the FTC is setting in motion the cogs which will eventually show the "Do Not Track" machine that the public has been waiting for since it became common knowledge that everyone is, indeed, being tracked basically all the time while online. The Federal Trade Commission's paper also echoes the White House call from a month ago to bring a new law into order which would serve as a Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights. This bill of rights will be the first giant blow against a vast undertaking created by several of the larger ad-slinging sites on the web which would have the common citizen's online actions tracked every second of every day in order to provide them with what's called, again, a "personalized experience."

As MoveOn.org board president Eli Pariser spoke about in a TED talk all the way back on the 2nd of May, 2011, we must beware of online "filter bubbles" – this is the message of the FTC this week with this first move by them to follow the White House to web privacy. Have a peek at the TED talk below by Pariser to understand the psychological dangers of creating a personalized web such as we're seeing implemented in a very real way here at the front end of 2012:

These words ring true for the FTC as well as the groups rallying this week to keep the "Do Not Track" button, and what it represents, alive and well until implementation later this year. The FTC is placing a basic Autumn of 2012 marker on when they'll be able to implement such a ruling on how groups that have the ability to track citizens will be asked to treat that ability. A "Do Not Track" button will be exactly what Eli Pariser was wishing for nearly a year ago, and will certainly change the way we're seeing the web develop here in 2012.