FTC calls for online do-not-track effort to protect privacy

01.12.2010

"Companies engaged in behavioral advertising may be invisible to most consumers," the report said. "The FTC repeatedly has called on stakeholders to create better tools to allow consumers to control the collection and use of their online browsing data."

The report shows a failure of private industry to adequately address customer privacy concerns online, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said during a press conference. "Despite some good actors, self-regulation of privacy has not worked adequately and is not working adequately for American consumers," he said. "We deserve far better from the companies we entrust our data to, and industry as a whole needs to do a far better job."

Earlier this year, Leibowitz said the FTC was considering a do-not-track list, and several privacy groups proposed such a list back in 2007.