In yet another sign that the Federal Trade Commission is serious about examining online privacy, Christopher Soghoian said today that he's accepted a job as technical consultant to the FTC's Bureau of
Consumer Protection, Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.
Soghoian, currently with Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, is among the most influential researchers today when
it comes to online privacy and advertising.
"David Vladeck, the new head of the Bureau of Consumer Protection recently told the New York Times that 'he would hire technologists to help
analyze online marketers' tracking.' I guess that means people like me," Soghoian said on his blog.
Last month, Soghoian
published an open letter to Network Advertising Initiative executive director Charles Curran complaining about big variations in the expiration periods of members' opt-out cookies. "The opt out
cookies for some sites last as little as six months, while others last as long as sixty years," he wrote.
"This variability is not communicated to consumers, and as a result, many are unlikely to know that they must revisit the NAI web site and re-opt out every six months in order to maintain total opt
out coverage."
One week later, Soghoian reported that Curran contacted him to say the NAI intends to require
that all members arrange for opt-out cookies to last at least five years.
"While it is quite fun to see the industry scrambling to perform emergency damage control in response to my blog
posts, it is pretty pathetic that I had to do this at all," he wrote. "This multi-billion online advertising industry should not depend upon a single graduate student to keep it honest."