For the list of companies that intend to offer Web users new ways to control how we collect personal data online, add two largest producers of Internet browsers.
Monday, Mozilla and Google announced the features that enable users to Firefox and Chrome browser to opt-out of line caught by third-party advertisers. The companies made their ads a few weeks after the Federal Trade Commission has published a report that supported a mechanism of "track" that will allow consumers to choose if companies could monitor their online behavior.
In a blog post from Alex Fowler, Mozilla technology and privacy officer, the company presented a proposal for the Firefox browser functionality that would be a signal of third-party advertisers and commercial websites that indicates that a user would not be tracked. The mechanism, called an HTTP header do not trace, would rely on the companies who receive the information for the user agrees not to collect data.
The approach is different from other options currently available to users that rely on cookies or lists generated by the user. In December, Microsoft announced a feature called detection for Internet Explorer 9 that would rely on lists that users create that indicate which sites they don't want to share information with.
"We believe that the approach based on header has the potential to be better for the web in the long run, because it is a clearer and more universal mechanism to opt-out cookies or blacklists," said Mr. Fowler in the blog post.
In a statement, said the President of the Federal Trade Commission, Jon Leibowitz,: "initiative of Mozilla is to be commended. It recognises that consumers want a choice about who is tracking their movements online, and is a first step towards giving consumer choice about who will have access to your data. Also reports that Do not track options are technically feasible. "
Google's approach is based on a browser extension or plug-in, called Keep My Opt-out that work with all versions of its Chrome browser. The extension would allow users to opt-out permanently monitored online by advertisers that already offer opt-out options through self-regulatory programs, such as the Alliance of digital advertising and the Network Advertising Initiative.
In a blog post from Google, the company said it would offer the code for the extension developers on an open source and that you plan to make the functionality available to other browsers in the future.
Regarding the announcement of Google, said a spokesman for F.T.C., "we are pleased that Google is involved in the process, but Mozilla and Microsoft are clearly steps forward".
In a statement, Mike Zaneis, senior vice president and general counsel for the Interactive Advertising Bureau, an organization that supports self-regulation of the sector, said that the feature of Mozilla would require companies to voluntarily recognize consumer choice and that was not yet clear how users can protect their privacy.
"The first analogy that comes to mind is that if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Well, Google has guaranteed an audience to hear the sound of the tree falling, working with established industry, "said Mr. Zaneis.
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