The Obama administration is proposing to scale back a long-standing ban on tracking how people use government Internet sites with "cookies" and other technologies, raising alarms among privacy groups.
A two-week public comment period ended Monday on a proposal by the White House Office of Management and Budget to end a ban on federal Internet sites using such technologies and replace it with other privacy safeguards. The current prohibition, in place since 2000, can be waived if an agency head cites a "compelling need."
Supporters of a change say social networking and similar services, which often take advantage of the tracking technologies, have transformed how people communicate over the Internet, and Obama's aides say those services can make government more transparent and increase public involvement.
Some privacy groups say the proposal amounts to a "massive" and unexplained shift in government policy. In a statement Monday, American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Michael Macleod-Ball said the move could "allow the mass collection of personal information of every user of a federal government website."
Even groups that support updating the policy question whether the administration is seeking changes at the request of private companies, such as online search giant Google, as the industry's economic clout and influence in Washington have grown rapidly.
Two prominent technology policy advocacy groups, the Electronic Privacy Information Center and Electronic Frontier Foundation, cited the terms of a Feb.
If they have their way, when you visit a government website, you will be tracked from then on via cookies. It would be like the government watching what you read at the library . . . looking over your shoulder . . . and taking note of what book or magazine your are reading. In this case, the government would be watching what you do on the Internet and taking notes.
This is another invasion of privacy!
(fixed the articles link)
-- Edited by thebword on Wednesday 12th of August 2009 12:23:27 PM
I agree this is bad. I don't know why the government the last several years wants to follow normal everyday Americans around and invading their privacy.
