behavioral targeting Federal Trade Commission FTC online tracking
Federal Trade Commission Extends Deadline for Comments on Privacy Report
To provide business groups more time to express their views on consumer privacy, the FTC has extended the deadline for submitting comments on the agency's Internet privacy report to February 18th. The preliminary staff report "Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: a Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policy Makers" recommends the creation of a Do Not Track mechanism, the adoption of "privacy by design" techniques, and the use of simplified consumer privacy notices. However, the FTC's report did not address the privacy implications of cloud computing and social networking, the need for a US privacy agency, or a comprehensive federal privacy law based on "Fair Information Practices," as privacy groups had urged. For more information, see EPIC: Federal Trade Commission and EPIC: Online Tracking and Behavioral Profiling.