So, obviously the biggest thing going on in digital privacy today is the Congressional hearing called by Senator Al Franken. As we’ve mentioned a couple of times, the events of the last couple of weeks have really spurred quick movement in the area, and testifying at today’s hearing will be representatives from Apple, Google, the FTC, the Justice Department, and “a consumer advocate”… [USA Today]

But at the aforementioned hearing, the powers that be ought not to think too narrowly on the subject of mobile privacy, singling out apps as the problem. Clearly there are much broader digital privacy concerns and implications at play here, and so Congress should be thinking about how it can introduce a comprehensive bill that covers all of the different privacy issues through the web, mobile, social networking and any other relevant aspect of digital… [CNET]

Either way, as we noted yesterday, there’s now a second digital privacy bill in the mix that incorporates the spirit of the FTC’s “Do Not Track” mechanism for protecting users. If you were wondering how said bill was received by privacy advocate groups, as you might expect, that would be warmly. It’s also important to note that it’s not advocating a strict “Do Not Track” that wouldn’t allow companies to track users at all, but rather it would require companies to offer users the ability to opt out, and respect such decision unless absolutely necessary for its site to function… [Ars Technica]

Not long ago, we mentioned that the upcoming version of Google’s Chrome browser will include a feature that allows users to delete the infamously pesky Flash cookies that we’ve also noted in the past can be quite a pain to get rid of. Well, the beta version of that release is apparently now available… [Google Chrome Blog]

And with all of the scrutiny on cookie tracking over the last year or so, many (mostly in advertising) have been concerned that if new legislation bars companies from cookie’ing users, digital commerce may suffer greatly. But even if that were to happen, Buyosphere may have a better way. Instead of companies “silently” collecting data on users, Buyosphere allows users to provide information to companies on what types of things are relevant to them…which, of course, in the end is pretty much the same thing, but what separates the cookie method from Buyosphere is the transparency and control… [Mashable]

Speaking of the practice of cookie’ing – as you may remember, we’ve mentioned that the EU has proposed a ban on said practice. Well, apparently the UK’s Information Commissioner thought publishing “guidance on the implementation” of the new proposal would help everyone better understand what the proposed regulation actually meant. Unfortunately, by this account, it did not…in any way… [WSJ]

In honor of Data Privacy Day today, Monster.com is announcing that it will be giving users additional privacy controls, in advance of any kind of legislative mandate on the subject (behavioral ad tracking, that is)… [Adweek]

And speaking of self-regulation, a group of web analytics consultants is calling for the industry to adhere to a “Code of Ethics” governing the use of the data they collect through their business…two important tenets being – to always allow users to opt out of analytics tracking and to provide clear privacy policies… [WSJ]

And speaking of privacy policies and clarity – in case you weren’t sure, the “real reason” we don’t read privacy policies (which should be pretty obvious) is that they’re length is about the offline equivalent of an epic novel… [Mashable]

Yesterday we mentioned a Harris Interactive Survey the results of which showed that we’re really pretty confident about our privacy online. Yet, today the results of a different survey show that we’re more concerned with our privacy online than bankruptcy… [Press Release]

Yesterday, we highlighted Mozilla’s efforts to give users the option of opting out of behavioral ad tracking through its popular Firefox web browser. Well, not to be left behind, Google gives users of its Chrome browser the same option… [Google Public Policy Blog]

But which of the two offers better protection? Well, you’ll probably have to try both to really find out for yourself, but privacy advocate group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation says ~ Mozilla > Google [EFF Deeplinks]

Google’s veritable shadow (and by that I mean the consumer privacy advocate, Consumer Watchdog) has now gone so far as to ask Congress to investigate the company’s “cozy” relationship with the Obama Administration, and how it may be affecting government regulation of the company… [NetworkWorld]

Finally, while we’re discussing the government and online privacy – the Justice Department is expected to announce its desire for ISPs to keep better track of what their customers are doing on the web, trying to “strike a better balance between privacy and police concerns”… [CNET]

A couple of weeks ago, we mentioned an alternative search engine – DuckDuckGo – that was trying to take a similar approach as Diaspora did with Facebook – touting the fact that it doesn’t “track users,” and we included an image of a billboard reading “Google tracks you. We don’t.” Well, that billboard design/copy apparently wasn’t just a concept, and yesterday it went up in San Francisco (as you can see in the image above)… [Wired]

Yesterday, we mentioned that the Association of National Advertisers was imploring advertisers/ad networks to follow industry self-regulation guidelines. Today (err, tomorrow, sounds like), the Digital Advertising Alliance is apparently set to announce it has approved TRUSTe’s ad-tracking icons (a particular form of industry self-regulation), which we’ve mentioned before, but are aimed at alerting users “that ads are being served based on data collected from consumers as they surf the Web”… [Mediapost]

Recently, we mentioned how Google was in hot water in South Korea for breaking that country’s telecomm laws with its Street View wi-fi sniffing chicanery. Well, South Korea isn’t the only country currently on Google’s tail for said wi-fi gaffe; Spain is actually bringing suit against Google for violating its privacy laws… [WSJ]

We’ve seen contextual/behavioral advertising in several different contexts, but for the first time in 2011, we may start seeing contextual ads when viewing our bank statements online…which obviously raises questions if advertisers are “reading” bank statements in order to serve ads… [Washington Post]

Two quick pieces of news in the realm of online behavioral tracking…

First, Adobe has taken kind of a beating over the last six months or so regarding its flash cookies, which some call “zombie” cookies because of their ability to regenerate even when deleted. But yesterday it announced that it has made it easier for users to manage and delete these cookies, potentially helping its own cause a little… [PC Mag]

Second, the Better Advertising Project – the online advertising industry’s self-proclaimed, self-regulatory body – has been bought by Publicis Groupe and rebranded, “Evidon”… [Press Release]

If you’re concerned about your privacy on Facebook, a good idea is to set up lists of friends, so you can control who sees what information about/from you [Lifehacker]

Hopefully this prediction will come true (though I’m slightly skeptic), but “lawsuits will pressure Apple and Google to protect user privacy” – and basically give us control over what information gets shared with advertisers [Reuters]

Along those same lines, maybe it’s time we focused on how to give users control over their information while at the same time causing minimal damage to the online advertising industry… [ClickZ]

If you’ve followed online privacy as an issue for any appreciable period of time, or at least if you’ve followed this blog, you’re well aware of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and its role as consumer advocate. In this post, the EFF cautions us about what it dubs “Traitorware” – some type of technological “innovation” that might allow someone else to control your devices without you knowing – for which Apple recently filed a patent application… [EFF Deeplinks]

Just in case you thought Mozilla was just riding the wave of “Do Not Track” and recent scrutiny of online behavioral ad tracking, the makers of Firefox have actually come through with a set of privacy icons that tell users how their data can be used by the site’s owner (based on its privacy policy)…of course, the only way this would actually help is if site owners used the icons, so we’ll have to wait and see whether this moves the needle at all… [Aza on Design]

And speaking of “Do Not Track,” the FTC‘s Chief Technologist discussed the parameters of the FTC’s recent proposal, and clarified that “Do Not Track” only applies to 3rd party advertiser behavior tracking – not a site owner’s tracking of traffic to the site, nor does it apply to mobile advertising… [ClickZ]

Of course, at the same time, Consumer Watchdog – another consumer advocate similar to the EFF – says “Do Not Track” needs to apply to mobile, in the wake of the Wall Street Journal’s recent report on how personal data gets used/shared by smartphone apps… [Press Release]

Among these Social Media predictions for 2011 is that the privacy mess will not get resolved. The editor thinks there is too much money at stake for the government to risk interfering and disrupting the industry [GigaOm]

And finally, along those same lines – we can’t forget that in regulating privacy, we may be affecting our ability to browse the internet for free [Reuters]

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals made a landmark ruling yesterday when it held that your hosted email is just as protected as your phone calls and physical (USPS) mail – well, that the government needs a warrant to search your emails (this is just hosted email, by the way – so Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.), anyway [EFF Deeplinks]

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz recently likened online behavioral ad tracking to a stalker who is tipping off business owners in front of your while you’re walking down the street…which I’m not altogether sure is a totally appropriate analogy, but nevertheless, he said it… [Huffington Post]

Meanwhile a positive spin on the online behavioral ad tracking debate is that it will help marketers provide more enticing messages for consumers… [Forbes]

Just in case you forgot – privacy may stand as a major impediment to people – women, particularly – joining in on the location-based services craze [MediaPost]

And finally, for you parents out there – I doubt you need anyone to tell you this, but be sure to scrutinize any sites that ask your child to send information to them under the guise of sending a letter to Santa [Cleveland Plain Dealer]

From the guy who brought you Facebook Disconnect – a browser add-on that helps users opt out of Facebook Connect – comes (or will be coming, that is) a Chrome extension that helps users opt out of 3rd party ad tracking altogether [TechCrunch]

It’s been quite a while since Google offended the world by collecting bits of personal information over wi-fi networks amidst its Street View efforts, but yet, the company is STILL apologizing for it – this week, to New Zealand [ComputerWorld]

Finally, if you’ve been fervently following the government’s – and particularly the FTC‘s legislative online privacy efforts – and want to submit comments on the FTC’s recently issued privacy proposal, ClickZ has got you covered. Submit away! [ClickZ]