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FTC's Swindle Among Discussants of National Survey Results
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Results of the new national survey of privacy practices at commercial Web sites will be reviewed in detail this Friday at a Congressional Seminar sponsored by The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Leading the list of discussants will be FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle. Other participants at the 12:00-2:00 p.m. session include Paul Misener of Amazon.com, David Klaus of the Privacy Leadership Initiative and Peter Ford, First Executive Secretary, Information and Security Law Division of the Australian Attorney-General’s Department.
Foundation President Jeffrey A. Eisenach will present the survey results and Vice President Thomas M. Lenard will moderate the panel discussion in Room B369 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
Released at a March 27 National Press Club briefing featuring Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy J. Muris and other Commissioners, the survey, Privacy Online: A Report on the Internet Practices and Policies of Commercial Web Sites, is based on information collected and tabulated by Ernst & Young. The new data are directly comparable to those contained in a May 2000 FTC report, offering a means of measuring progress on the privacy front.
The findings suggest that online privacy practices and policies are continuing to evolve, and, by at least some criteria, to improve. Some of the most notable changes are in such consumer hot-button areas as third party information sharing and the use of third-party ‘cookies’. “The changes we have identified are evolutionary, not revolutionary,” said Eisenach, a co-author of the report. “But from a consumer perspective, they are all in the right direction.”
The Progress & Freedom Foundation is a market-oriented think tank that studies the digital revolution and its implications for public policy. It is a 501(c)(3) research & educational organization.
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