WASHINGTON D.C. - Internet advertising revenues have funded an explosion of new content and services available to consumers online at no charge. Even as industry develops more sophisticated tools for targeting more relevant--and therefore profitable--advertising to Internet users, a debate has emerged over the need for government intervention in online advertising due to privacy and market power concerns. Do these privacy necessitate government intervention or can industry self-regulate? How competitive is the online advertising marketplace? Is antitrust action required to protect competition or will innovation and other market forces suffice? These issues will be explored during the luncheon discussion panel "Online Advertising & Privacy: Is Self-Regulation Enough?" at PFF's 2008 Aspen Summit.

Panelist will include:

• William Blumenthal, General Counsel, Federal Trade Commission, practiced antitrust law as a partner at King & Spalding LLP before joining the FTC as General Counsel in 2005.
• Greg Sivinski, Senior Antitrust Attorney, Microsoft, spent over ten years as in-house counsel at American Airlines, where he focused on antitrust litigation and regulatory matters, prior to joining Microsoft in 2003.
• Hal Varian, Chief Economist, Google Inc., has served in various positions at Google since 2002, including key roles in econometric, finance and public policy. A Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Varian has written extensively on information economics.
• Alan Raul, Partner, Sidley Austin LLP, chairs his law firm's Information Law and Privacy Practice group and specializes in privacy issues involving data protection and information security.
• Michael Zaneis, Vice President, Public Policy, Interactive Advertising Bureau, is responsible for IAB's policy outreach efforts. Prior to joining IAB in 2007, Zaneis worked as Executive Director of Technology and E-Commerce at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for five years.

More Information about the 2008 PFF Aspen Summit, to be held August 17th - 19th at the St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, Colorado can be found on our web site and registration can be completed online. Questions should be directed to Allison Bringardner at abringardner@pff.org. Members of the media are always welcome to attend and should contact Amy Smorodin at asmorodin@pff.org or (202) 289-8928.

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.