Francesco Lapenta's Logs – Sociology of Science and Technology, Sociology of Innovation

So you all have heard the story Obama today suggested that he has reached an agreement with some major internet companies to implement a “no track” button that will allow users to decide if to be tracked or not when browsing the internet. Or so it would seem given the denomination of the “button”. This “no track” button is said to be inspired by a long awaited extension of the principles of the “bill of rights” to the legislation that should regulate and protect users in their activities online. This however is a very misleading formulation, because the “no track” button will NOT stop tracking or guarantee privacy when surfing the net, but only communicate to the host service that the user does not want to receive targeted advertising based on that tracking. This is very confusing and misleading, and far from the implementation of the principles of “privacy by design” (Privacy by Design means that privacy and data protection are embedded throughout the entire life cycle of technologies from the early design stage to their deployment, use and ultimate disposal) that would actually be an equivalent, fair and inspired evolution of the “bill of rights”. This “button” and its actual function will in the end cause more damage than the problems it tries to fix giving ammunition to some politicians to explain and sustain with the misinformed that the law is already working on a reinterpretation of the bill of rights, and that the us has already achieved or working on guaranteeing these principles when it is really actually not. A big mess that has the only positive of creating a precedent that might inspire more serious revisions and extension of the laws of humans to the laws of post humans.