California sets pace on 'Do Not Track' regs.

• Position: PRIVACY

Many privacy advocates are looking to California to blaze the trail for a national Do Not Track law. The state's Online Tracking Act requires websites to inform users whether and how they honor "do not track" signals transmitted by a consumer's browser. It also requires sites to tell users when advertisers and data brokers are tracking their online movements. At press time, the bill was waiting for Governor Jerry Brown's signature.

Privacy advocates have been frustrated by the lack of progress in Congress and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) on standards for online tracking and hope the California bill will stir the pot.

"I'm hoping the California bill will set off a digital data stampede for other states to begin regulating privacy," Jeff Chester, executive director for the Center for Digital Democracy and a member of the W3C Tracking Protection Group, recently told Politico. "It's not clear there is going to be a standard for Do Not Track from the W3C. It's likely to be a very weak standard."

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The technology industry has mixed feelings about the legislation. Michael Beckerman, president of the Internet...