‘Do Not Track’ Privacy Bill Appears in Congress

And the privacy legislation just keeps on coming.

On Friday, two bills were introduced in Washington in support of a Do Not Track mechanism that would give users control over how much of their data was collected by advertisers and other online companies.

The first was from the office of Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Mr. Rockefeller said he would introduce the Do Not Track Online Act of 2011 to Congress next week.

“Consumers have a right to know when and how their personal and sensitive information is being used online—and most importantly to be able to say ‘no thanks’ when companies seek to gather that information without their approval,” he said in a statement announcing the legislation. “This bill will offer a simple, straightforward way for people to stop companies from tracking their every move on the Internet.”

The legislation supports a mandatory browser-based Do Not Track mechanism that would allow users to opt out of having their information collected online. After a Federal Trade Commission report in December called for a similar mechanism, a number of major browser vendors including Google, Mozilla and Microsoft have created similar tools for opting out of online data collection.

The bill would allow the Federal Trade Commission to pursue action against companies that violated the law. It would also limit the amount of time a company could keep data and then require it to destroy the data or make it anonymous.

The announcement was followed by the release of a discussion draft of bipartisan legislation from  Representatives Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Barton of Texas that would amend the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 by adding protections for children and teenagers who use mobile devices.

“We have reached a troubling point in the state of business when companies that conduct business online are so eager to make a buck, they resort to targeting our children,” Mr. Barton said in a statement issued on Friday. “I strongly believe that information should not be collected on children and used for commercial purposes.”

The Do Not Track Kids Act of 2011 would require companies to explain the type of information being collected and how that information was being used and would require parental consent before the collection of a child’s information. Advertisers would also be prohibited from aiming at children and teens online.

The bill also calls for a “digital marketing bill of rights for teens” that limits data collection, including geolocation data from mobile devices and the creation of an “eraser button” that would let users eliminate information online.

The two bills come on the heels of another piece of bipartisan legislation that was introduced in April by Senator John Kerry and Senator John McCain. The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 required users to opt in to the collection of sensitive information like religious affiliation or medical condition, but did not call for a do not track mechanism.