Tracking legislative developments in relation to "Do Not Track" initiatives

Online behavioural profiling has now become an industry that is worth billions of dollars throughout the globe. The actual practice of online tracking was once limited to individual Websites and individual cookies. However, the development of new technologies has enabled marketing corporations to track the Web browsing activities of individual users across the Internet. Consequently, it should be no surprise that legislative initiatives are afoot throughout the world including the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and Australia. These different jurisdictions have put forward different methods of regulating online behavioural profiling and Do Not Track initiatives. Accordingly, this chapter overviews legislative developments and puts forward a typology of different legislative initiatives regarding the regulation of online behavioral profiling and Do Not Track issues. Particular focus is given to the Australian situation and whether existing Australian privacy law is sufficient to protect the privacy interests of individuals against the widespread use of online behaviour profiling tools