Hey, Web, Wake Up

The online computer industry has long had a choice. It could police itself and protect the privacy of those it hopes to lure to the Internet for everything from recreation to research to shopping or it could obfuscate and sit on its hands as mounting consumer criticism forced Congress to make the rules, despite lawmakers’ lack of expertise in most digital matters.

The questions for concerned consumers are well-defined. Just what risks do they take with their personal information when they go online? How closely and how often are their interests and activities tracked as they browse or shop, and toward what end? How can they learn about these tactics to protect themselves?

The online industry is at last responding. A Georgetown University study released Wednesday showed that nearly two-thirds of the Internet’s 7,500 most popular commercial sites are voluntarily posting their privacy policies, stating what personal information is being collected and how it will be used. That’s well up from the 14% posting such policies last year, according to a federal government survey.

It’s a good start, but only that. The posting of such policies is far short of what the Federal Trade Commission has sought. The FTC wants clearly worded privacy policies, but it seeks other consumer rights as well. For instance, the right to just say no to data collection; to have access to any personal data collected; to learn exactly what data security the online company provides, and clearly accessible options for filing complaints.

More and more safeguards exist on the Internet, and it might well be safer to give out a credit card number online than to hand your card to a waiter at a restaurant. But that isn’t the point here. The point is consumer confidence. If the industry fails to build that confidence, Americans will look to legislators to provide it and muddled results will be the certain outcome.