Federal regulators in the United States are proposing to create a "do not track" list for the internet so that people could prevent marketers from tracking their web browsing habits and other online behaviour in order to target advertising.

The Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. says the online world has created a privacy deficit by tracking consumers without thier knowledge. (iStock)

The proposal, modelled after the government's existing do-not-call list for telemarketers, is one of a series of recommendations outlined in a new privacy report released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission. The report lays out a broad framework for protecting consumer privacy both online and offline as personal data collection becomes ubiquitous — often without consumer knowledge.

The FTC hopes the report will help inform legislators and other policymakers as they draft new rules of the road to protect privacy, and guide the marketing industry as it develops self-regulatory principles to define acceptable corporate behaviour.

Protecting consumer privacy, the FTC says, is critical as marketers — particularly online marketers — are analyzing the websites consumers visit, the online links they click, internet searches, online and offline purchases, the physical locations of cellphones and other wireless devices and all sorts of personal information disclosed on social networking sites.