Senate looks at privacy options

Internet users may one day be able to sign up for a “do not track” list to prevent Internet advertising companies from mining for personal information, a senator suggested Wednesday.

Similar to the federal government’s “Do Not Call” registry that protects consumers from telemarketers, a “Do Not Track” list could allow citizens to prevent the tracking and sharing of their Internet habits, said Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, North Dakota Democrat.

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee held a hearing Wednesday to debate what — if any — privacy protections Internet users should be given. Most of the senators on hand agreed that consumers know little about who or what is tracking their browsing behavior.

Internet giants including Microsoft Corp.’s MSN, Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. agreed that some online privacy laws are needed to protect users and guide privacy policies.

“A baseline set of rules would make consumers more aware and allow companies to know if they are within the limits of the federal law,” said Mike Hintze, general counsel for Microsoft.

Right now there is no federal law regarding online privacy regarding behavioral advertising. The Federal Trade Commission last year issued a series of voluntary “privacy principles” that called for industry self-regulation.

“Congress may need to address the current patchwork of regulations,” said Mr. Dorgan, who later suggested that the government initiate an “opt-in” law.

Under such a law, Internet users would be required to give permission for any companies to track their Web browsing habits. Currently, tracking software comes embedded in some software applications consumers download during day-to-day Internet use. Mr. Dorgan also suggested that a possible solution lies in the Do Not Call list.

Sen. Jim DeMint, South Carolina Republican, cautioned lawmakers to be careful in trying to reign in the Internet, which he called “a great example of free American enterprise.”

The market gives incentives for companies to provide anonymity to users, and those who don’t will lose customers, Mr. DeMint said.

Records that contain a person’s Internet search queries, which MSN and Google store for 18 months, could provide companies with embarrassing information, Mr. Dorgan argued.

“What if I searched for gout, dementia and post-nasal drip — would you know that?” he asked representatives from Google and MSN.

“I don’t think consumers understand with any amount of granularity about the differences in policies,” said Leslie Harris, president and chief executive officer of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an advocacy group that wants stricter regulations on personal information shared over the Internet.

Lydia B. Parnes, director of the Federal Trade Commission’s consumer protection bureau, said it would take more than a year to draft and institute a series of binding privacy principles - a pace vastly outstripped by the speed of technology.

Several firms sell privacy software already. Tracks Eraser, for example, is advertised as a product that deletes evidence of a user’s browsing habits, while larger companies such as Symantec and Norton Anti-Virus focus on firewalls that prevent hackers from accessing files.