The New York Times reporter, Tanzina Vega, published an article which stated that new Web code integral to running the next-generation of the Internet will raise more online privacy concerns that in past thanks to marketers desire to track online behaviors of Internet users. “In the next few years, a powerful new suite of capabilities will become available to Web developers that could give marketers and advertisers access to many more details about computer users’ online activities. Nearly everyone who uses the Internet will face the privacy risks that come with those capabilities, which are an integral part of the Web language that will soon power the Internet: HTML 5.”
The article goes on to state “[t]he new Web language and its additional features present more tracking opportunities because the technology uses a process in which large amounts of data can be collected and stored on the user’s hard drive while online. Because of that process, advertisers and others could, experts say, see weeks or even months of personal data. That could include a user’s location, time zone, photographs, text from blogs, shopping cart contents, e-mails and a history of the Web pages visited.”
Just exactly how this is going to play out from a legal perspective still remains, as the laws continue to lag behind as technology continues to grow and innovate.