From his post:
I’m disappointed in the government for wanting to use the online behavior of millions of people in an attempt to justify a law that many of those million are likely against. I’m disappointed in them for making people even more fearful of “being tracked online” and the Bush Administration’s attempts to keep an eye on the public.
I’m disappointed in those companies that appeared not to put up a fight, notify their users, or explain what happened in a timely fashion. I’m disappointed in them for not providing an opt-out mechanism. I guess that’s everyone but Google so far.
Is it too much to ask, I keep asking, to ask our online services to provide us:
– Access to a record of all the information they keep on us and how they use it
– The ability to challenge that data’s accuracy, and edit it for accuracy
– The ability to opt out (with a clear understanding of the resulting loss of services and opportunities that might result)
– The ability to set permissions as to who else might see the data
– The right to maintain a user copy of that data for archival purposes
– The right to share in the value of that data on negotiated terms
Is that so freaking hard to do? I sense that, increasingly, there is a market opportunity in doing this. I bet 95% of the public will never edit, or even view the data more than once. But the sense that the control panel is there, just in case, will be invaluable to establishing trust.