Across the U.S., young professionals are implanting computer chips into their ears in order to constantly receive information on the go. These chips collect signals from the nervous system and send detailed personal profiles of every user to advertisers across the globe.
Sound like science fiction? That’s because it is. People aren’t actually implanting computers into their brains just yet. But they are sharing almost everything they do on a computer with organizations across the world, often without even realizing it.
Every time a person opens up an Internet browser, that person engages in a transaction. No money changes hands; the Internet user simply trades a reasonable expectation of privacy for access to an almost unlimited supply of data. That exchange enables the Internet to progress rapidly while, at the same time, allowing people of various economic backgrounds more or less equal access to vast stores of information. Everyone has some measure of control over their privacy, and everyone also has the authority to give their privacy away. Personal privacy becomes a commodity.
Soon, the new HTML5 programming language will go even further. Theoretically, HTML5 will allow companies to enable more cookies and consumer tracking capabilities. However, the new coding will also allow users to view multimedia without plug-ins like Flash and to browse the Internet more quickly.
The recent prominence of HTML5 in the news and an investigation by the Wall Street Journal into the tracking habits of Internet companies have caused a wave of alarmist outcries concerning the erosion of Internet privacy. Fox Entertainment and NBC, along with other companies, have faced class-action lawsuits concerning Internet privacy issues in the past months.
House Energy and Commerce Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher recently announced that Internet privacy legislation will be introduced during the next session of Congress. House Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection Subcommittee Chairman Bobby Rush introduced a bill that would allow users to opt out of having their information collected on the Internet as well as allow users to sue Internet companies for breach of privacy. The bill would also prevent companies from selling consumer information to third-party advertisers.
It’s as though people have forgotten that “Internet privacy” never existed in the first place. The Internet is not free; users must pay for their information with their privacy. Advertisers fund websites in exchange for data about the people who visit those sites. If laws require sites to stop collecting that data and allow users to opt out of sharing their information, the Internet will no longer be able to depend on advertisers to exist.
If you aren’t comfortable with that transaction, turn off the computer and pay cash for a book.