FTC Internet Proposal Draws Industry, Congressional Fire
The Federal Trade Commission’s quest to impose tough new privacy rules on the Internet has drawn heavy fire from the online industry as well as least two members of Congress.
In a controversial report released late Monday, the FTC demanded that Congress enact tough new laws to protect personal privacy over the Internet. In the report, the FTC said that “self regulation alone has not adequately protected consumer online privacy” and new laws were needed “to supplement” industry self-regulatory efforts. The FTC is also seeking the authority to enact rules and to enforce then.
Yesterday, amid unconfirmed reports that Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) plans to introduced legislation that would give the FTC the power it seeks, Reps. Billy Tauzin (R-LA), and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) said in separate statements that the legislation wasn’t needed because there are enough laws on the books already to protect personal privacy over the Internet.
Goodlatte, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, suggested that Congress review the privacy protection roles of both the FTC and the Justice Department “before jumping into further legislation.” Tauzin, chairman of the House telecommunications subcommittee, said enough “laws have already been enacted to protect consumer privacy.”
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) would not comment directly on the FTC’s controversial proposal. He would only say that the request will get a full airing tomorrow (May 25) before his panel when it hears testimony from the five FTC commissioners and industry representatives.
Commerce Secretary William Daley, in a statement supporting industry self-regulation, denounced the FTC’s proposal, saying that “legislation will not be sufficient on its own, given the pace of technological change; the emergence of privacy challenges that neither we nor Congress can anticipate today, and the innovative privacy solutions that only the private sector can develop.”
A day after the Direct Marketing Association denounced the FTC’s proposals there were these developments:
* Cambridge, MA-based Foster Research, predicted it will take at least five years before sweeping legislation pre-empting state privacy laws “establishing unified privacy principles that apply to the Internet, financial institutions and medical providers” with opt-in provisions regarding the sharing of personal information with third parties, including business partners and affiliates are passed. Those laws, it said, would be similar to the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
* The Online Privacy Alliance (OPA) blasted the FTC’s proposals as “overbroad, premature, impractical and unnecessary” while the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA) said the FTC should leave the issue to Internet professionals and stop trying to “prove that it knows best.”
* The American Advertising Federation released a statement that said in part the FTC should “let the marketplace drive solutions to online privacy and not create more problems in trying to fix existing ones.” It also pointed out that “every week some company announces a new technology that improves our ability to protect privacy online.”
