GOP senator announces bill to block companies from tracking online activity

[Jose Garcia]

Source: The Hill

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Monday announced he will introduce legislation that would block internet companies from tracking users' activity online by creating a so-called Do Not Track list.

The bill would create a Do Not Track database for users to opt into if they no longer want companies to collect their data beyond what is "necessary" for those services to run. It would be modeled after the federal "Do Not Call" registry, which allows users to say they no longer want to receive telemarketing calls - though that list has been panned for failing to stave off the deluge of telemarketing calls Americans receive every day.

Hawley, a freshman senator who has sought to make a name for himself as a prominent critic of tech giants, said in a statement released Monday morning that the Do Not Track database would give users more "control" over their information online.

"Big tech companies collect incredible amounts of deeply personal, private data from people without giving them the option to meaningfully consent," Hawley said. "They have gotten incredibly rich by employing creepy surveillance tactics on their users, but too often the extent of this data extraction is only known after a tech company irresponsibly handles the data and leaks it all over the internet."

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/technology/444482-gop-senator-announces-bill-to-block-companies-from-tracking-online-activity?amp&__twitter_impression=true

[Mr.Bill]

1. So, if it's modeled after the Do Not Call List,

does that mean it won't work either?

[NCjack]

2. Yup.

[McCamy Taylor]

7. Probably drafted by data miners to help then locate targets.

If you say "Don't mine me" that means there is something there to be mined.

[cstanleytech]

3. A bullshit bill thats unenforceable against companies that are overseas.

[SWBTATTReg]

4. I agree w/ posters on this in that this couldn't be done easily...after all, when traffic is ...

delivered to a front end processor (an internet URL / host), who knows where that goes afterwards? From FEP to FEP to another FEP to another, etc. Phone companies had nightmares in billing this traffic when the internet was established in the early 1980s commercially.

[msongs]

5. the us census is one of the most invasive of all. how bout cutting way back on that? nt

[McCamy Taylor]

6. "Do No Track"? Guaranteed to get the attention of all data mining programs.

If you declare yourself "Do Not Track" you are telling the Internet that your information is very important.