On Thursday, December 2, 2010, the House Energy & Commerce Committee held its last privacy hearing of the year to examine the feasibility of “Do-Not-Track” legislation authorizing the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) to establish a mechanism (similar to the popular Do-Not-Call registry) for Internet users to globally opt-out of receiving targeted online advertising based on their Internet behavior (i.e, known in the industry as “online behavioral advertising”). The House hearing was held less than 24 hours after the FTC released a long-awaited report and proposed guidelines for businesses on consumer data practices, including the Do-Not-Track proposal, entitled Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers (the “Privacy Report”). This advisory provides a brief summary of both the Privacy Report and the House hearing on the Do-Not-Track proposal.
The advisory is provided in PDF on the Alston & Bird web site: http://www.alston.com/privacy_ftc_issues_privacy_report