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FTC Testifies Before Senate Commerce Committee on Privacy; Industry Efforts to Implement "Do Not Track" System Already Underway

News release: “In testimony before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, the Federal Trade Commission discussed its efforts to protect consumer privacy through enforcement actions, consumer education, and policy initiatives like the FTC staff’s recent preliminary privacy report. The report proposes a framework to balance consumer privacy with industry innovation by: 1) building privacy protections into everyday business practices (“privacy-by-design”); 2) simplifying privacy choices for consumers; and 3)improving transparency with clearer, shorter privacy notices. The Commission told Congress that industry stakeholders have made important progress in implementing Do Not Track, a mechanism proposed in the staff’s preliminary privacy report last December that would allow consumers to choose not to have their Internet browsing tracked by third parties. The testimony noted that two of the major Internet browsers – Microsoft and Mozilla – “have recently announced the development of new choice mechanisms for online behavioral advertising that seek to provide increased transparency, greater consumer control, and improved ease of use.”

  • “…the ACLU’s Chris Calabrese testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee on the state of online consumer privacy. In his testimony, Chris describes the danger that looms if Congress does not enact some online protections. He says: “If this collection of data is allowed to continue unchecked, then capitalism will build what the government never could — a complete surveillance state online.”
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