User tracking is so essential to business optimization and ad targeting that the FTC's initiatives can only backfire. Today, the analytics and advertising indu

User tracking is so essential to business optimization and ad targeting that the FTC's initiatives can only backfire. Today, the analytics and advertising industries increasingly self-regulate, cookie-based opt-outs are usually available, and concerned users can quite effectively opt-out through technical means. Should the FTC or Congress mandate opt-in or even a broadly promoted 'do not track' list, companies will quickly protect their revenues by making opt-in mandatory for content access - and the opt-in that's required will likely be a whole lot more intrusive than the relatively benign tracking that takes place today.