Software Rivals Team Up To Safeguard Net Privacy Browser Giants Netscape And Microsoft Agree On Common Privacy Format
Most people who browse the World Wide Web don’t know the sites they visit can collect personal information about them, but federal regulators are closely eyeing such privacy intrusions.
Trying to forestall any new rules, Microsoft Corp. and Netscape Communications Corp. put their rivalry aside Wednesday to announce a joint plan to help safeguard consumer data on the Web.
The proposal by the two largest makers of software for browsing the Internet was just the latest in a steady stream of programs announced this week by companies worried about a government crackdown.
But the fact that archrivals Netscape and Microsoft lowered their swords was likely to catch the eye of Federal Trade Commission officials at privacy hearings this week in Washington. The two companies are locked in battle for supremacy on the Internet, with each trying to make its own software standards prevail.
Their agreement on a common privacy format reflected the deepened concern among Internet companies that federal rules could stifle electronic commerce. Netscape’s Navigator and Microsoft’s Internet Explorer software basically control the portholes for how millions of Americans search for information on the Web and buy products ranging from books to computers.
Privacy advocates are pushing for government curbs in part because of the increased use of technology that can track a computer user’s recently visited Web sites, the pages the user looked at and even the person’s hobbies - and then link that information to the user’s name and address.
The owners of Web sites can then sell that information to advertisers and other interested parties without the consent or knowledge of the computer user.
Microsoft joined a plan that was first proposed by Netscape and two other Internet software companies, Firefly Network Inc. and Verisign Inc., two weeks ago. About 100 Internet businesses were listed as supporters of the proposal.
Their “open profiling standard” envisions new Web software that would allow computer users to determine what sort of personal information they are willing to share and with which Web sites.
For example, users could specify on their browsers whether they want to reveal their hobbies and other interests. It also would enable the creation of a “digital certificate” - information stored on the computer user’s hard drive that immediately identifies a user when clicking on a Web site.
Microsoft and Netscape officials said they have submitted the plan to the World Wide Web Consortium, a nonprofit group that sets standards for Internet technology.
The FTC plans to use findings gathered from this week’s hearings to determine whether it needs to recommend online privacy laws to Congress.
While self-policing efforts have drawn support, critics say the proposals are insufficient because they don’t call for any enforcement.