Privacy watchdogs fuming after FCC smacks down ‘Do Not Track’ request

The Federal Communications Commission has thrown out a proposed rule that would require websites to honor “Do Not Track” requests from consumers, and privacy watchdogs aren’t happy.

The FCC dismissed a petition from Consumer Watchdog that would have forced Google, Facebook, and similar companies to abide by requests from consumers not to track their online activities, according to an Ars Technica report.

The petition put before the FCC would “initiate a rulemaking proceeding requiring ‘edge providers’ (like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Pandora, Netflix, and LinkedIn) to honor ‘Do Not Track’ Requests from consumers,” according to an FCC summary. This would prevent services from tracking consumers by enabling them to turn on a “Do Not Track” setting in their browsers.

Companies to this point have ignored such requests for the most part, which is why Consumer Watchdog wanted to force the services to listen to them through an FCC requirement.

Consumer Watchdog’s statement on the matter: “Consumers’ privacy concerns about the Internet extend far beyond the broadband providers who are impacted by Section 222. Many consumers are as concerned—or perhaps even more worried—about the online tracking and data collection practices of edge providers… edge providers collect the same sensitive personal information that broadband Internet access service providers collect, and that the Commission is committed to protecting. If the Commission does not act to regulate the collection of personal information by edge providers, the Commission will in effect be granting a regulatory advantage to the edge providers, implicating concerns of market distortions.”

But the FCC dismissed this petition, stating that it should not be in the business of regulating the Internet or content on the Internet. It wrote that the proposed requirement would be inconsistent with the commission’s responsibilities.