Privacy tools don't prevent tracking
BY MIKE SWIFT - San Jose Mercury News
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A new study by Stanford University researchers has found many online advertising companies continue to follow people's Web activity even after users believe they have opted out of tracking.
The preliminary research has sparked renewed calls from privacy groups and Congress for a do-not-track law to allow people to opt out of tracking, like the do-not-call list that limits telemarketers.
Though some online advertisers acknowledged the problem, an industry trade group criticized the study by "a Stanford graduate student" and said self-regulation by the industry was better than a new law.
"I think industry self-regulation is a joke," shot back U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., who has proposed legislation allowing the Federal Trade Commission to regulate online tracking. "It's precisely why we need the FTC to regulate them. For those who say, 'Privacy, get over it,' I absolutely reject that."
