Online Privacy Bill of Rights Moves Forward

Bipartisanship in Washington is not dead. Democratic Senator John Kerry and Republican John McCain have co-authored an online privacy Bill of Rights. Their idea is to provide consumers with a standard notice of data collection, as well as opt-out capabilities. They want this bill to establish “a baseline code of conduct for how personally identifiable information is used.”

This is far from the last word on privacy concerns. In fact, a number of consumer groups say they will not support this bill; they claim that it doesn’t go far enough. One key element that it lacks, according to these groups, is a universal opt-out for tracking.