Tech standards body diluting web privacy?

DILUTED: Internet standard-setters are watering down a tool that is supposed to help Internet users hide their data from companies, the EU’s Internet chief, Neelie Kroes, will say on Thursday. — Reuters

BRUSSELS: Internet standard-setters are watering down a tool that is supposed to help Internet users hide their data from companies, the EU’s Internet chief, Neelie Kroes, will say on Thursday.

When a web user ‘likes’ something on Facebook or reads an online newspaper, a dozen or more companies are squirreling away data on their tastes, habits, gender and age. Data like this is the lifeblood of many Internet companies which rely on people’s clicks on ads to make money.