According to TRDaily, the 54-page Commerce department report, titled "Privacy and Information Innovation: A Dynamic Privacy Framework for the Internet Age," makes 10 specific recommendations for Internet privacy.

It also raises numerous questions on many of those recommendations. Of those questions, the one about the FTC's appropriate role in online privacy matters is perhaps the most important to address, said Amy Mushahwar, an attorney at Reed Smith LLP in Washington D.C.

The FTC currently only has the authority to suggest voluntary guidelines for companies to follow on Internet privacy matters. What it has been seeking for sometime is new rule-making authority, Mushahwar said.

"What the FTC is looking for is FCC-like rule-making authority where it can send out a notice of proposed rulemaking and where it can enact rules that can be enforced by a bureau of the FTC," Mushahwar said.

Whether it will be granted that authority in the new Congress, however, remains to be seen, she said.