Where The FTC Goes The EU Should Sensibly Follow It

Sensible: that's the word I would use to describe the FTC's upcoming recommendations about behavioural tracking. The FTC is not advocating new legislation, but instead is pushing a new "self-regulatory framework". As regular visitors to this blog will know, I am not the biggest fan of the EU's cack-handed and draconian privacy proposals. The EU's de-facto opt-in position might well wrap us all in cotton wool in Europe and protect us from those unscrupulous types who abuse privacy - but it would be condemning the digital media industry in Europe to a slow and painful death. What do they think pays for all this free content? And does the EU want to make the US digital behemoths even stronger - I'm talking here particularly about Google and Facebook. So the FTC is going to recommend that the industry make opt-outs compulsory on all BT powered ads. Surely the EU is not going to condemn us to the insanity of stringent opt-ins. I think our industry bodies need to take a leaf out of the US play book and start lobbying a little harder and smarter against this.