Behavioral advertising that tracks user interests pays for many free services online, and the privacy codes could make it more difficult for companies to track user interests, DelBianco said. The proposed multistakeholder process to develop the privacy codes "is like a meat grinder" that mashes together a bunch of bad ideas, he said. "At the end of the multistakeholder process, you don't get steak, you get hamburger."

NetChoice's members include AOL, eBay, Yahoo and Facebook.

The IDG News Service