Previously published in Direct Marketing News
Digital marketers are torn on the potential effect of "Do
Not Track" legislation.
YES
Stuart Ingis, partner at
Venable LLP, serves as counsel to the Digital Advertising
Alliance. He has practiced Internet law for 15
years.
Although legislators and regulators are acting with good
intentions, the "Do Not Track" slogan fuels baseless
fears about online privacy and implies that consumers should be
able to stop all data collection. Online data collection is not a
"problem" to be fixed, but an integral part of the
Internet. The Internet's architecture requires websites to
collect non-personal information for basic functions, from serving
a page to preventing a browser from receiving the same ad
repeatedly. The DNT slogan suggests to consumers that stopping all
such data collection is possible and desirable. In fact, such
legislation could harm consumers' online experience and is
unnecessary because robust industry
