Privacy & Information Security Law Blog

In the latest chapter of the Federal Trade Commission’s ongoing efforts to promote consumer privacy with respect to online behavioral advertising, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz has reportedly suggested that the FTC may propose a Do Not Track Registry.  The registry would be similar to the FTC’s popular Do Not Call Registry, which allows consumers to opt-out of many types of telemarketing calls, but registration on the Do Not Track Registry would not stop online advertisements.  Instead, it would prevent those advertisements from being targeted to users based on their prior online activity.  Mr. Leibowitz’s remarks came during a hearing on Consumer Online Privacy held yesterday by the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.  Current industry self-regulatory initiatives for providing consumers with choice regarding behavioral advertising include the Network Advertising Initiative’s Opt-Out Tool, which has been criticized for relying on opt-out cookies that consumers may accidentally delete, and a related beta Firefox browser extension designed to remember consumers’ opt-out preferences even after cookies are deleted.