The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a new ruling on Friday which states that websites will not be forced to honor “Do Not Track” requests from users. Specifically, the ruling allows companies such as Facebook and Google to collect and store data about their users with little to no limitations, and hardly any remedies on the part of such users.
This has sparked outrage among privacy advocates who had earlier filed a petition to compel these companies to honor such requests by users. The petition, which was overturned, would have required the companies to obtain a written request from consumers before tracing their activities.
Details of the petition include stipulations for an option that would have allowed users to engage a Do Not Track setting within their web browsers, which would secure them from third-party tracking. The reality is that most companies ignore these requests due to the lack of any regulations requiring them to obey them.
The full details of the FCC ruling can be found here.
