Now track how your private data is being used online

A new Web technology has been developed that would allow internet users to track their transmission of private data and how is it being used online.

As more of the data moves online, a more pressing concern may be its inadvertent misuse by people authorized to access it.

Every month seems to bring another story of private information accidentally leaked by governmental agencies or vendors of digital products or services.

At the same time, tighter restrictions on access could undermine the whole point of sharing data.

Researchers in the Decentralized Information Group (DIG) at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) believe the solution may be transparency rather than obscurity, so they're developing a protocol they call 'HTTP with Accountability,' or HTTPA, which will automatically monitor the use of private data.

Oshani Seneviratne, an MIT graduate said that it's not difficult to transform an existing website into an HTTPA-aware website.