Dear FTC,
I’d like to propose the following idea to regulate online and behavioral advertising and networks: Any ad network which collects user information across more than one website should be required to occasionally display a Public Service Announcement (PSA) instead of an advertisement. The PSA should be a standard format and include a notice something like this:
“XYZ Corp collects information about your computer as you visit websites within our advertising network. You have a right to know how we collect this information, a right to periodically inspect, amend, or delete the information. We use the following methods to collect information:
- Browser Fingerprinting [link to more information]
- Behavioral Analysis [link to more information]
- Cookies and Other Client-Side Object [link to more information]
- …etc.
We have collected the following information about this computer:
- Browser History [click to inspect] [click to delete]
- Screen Resolution
- Operating System
- Google search terms
- Website Visit Length
- …etc.
There is a world of personal information flowing beneath our feet. My identity is bought, sold, analyzed and re-analyzed across the world in milliseconds. Notwithstanding that my identity is an passive participant in this shadow world, my fleshy identity is actively kept out.
Perhaps a periodic Personal Information Public Service Announcement might be a step to allow me to re-take control of my identity.