Various members of the US legislature yesterday suggested that
on-line privacy protections will be passed next year. The new
Congress is due to meet in January under either the Gore or Bush
administration, depending on November’s election result.
In the US, most large e-commerce web sites have adopted privacy
policies, despite there still being no formal equivalent to
European data protection laws requiring sites to state what
personal data they collect and how they use it. Politicians in the
US are now showing signs of general agreement that industry
self-regulation is insufficient to protect consumers.
It was announced yesterday that Republican and Democrat members
of Congress are to form a working group to aim for consensus on new
laws.
The Federal Trade Commission yesterday testified before the
House Subcommittee on Telecommunications, Trade, and Consumer
Protection on the agency's efforts in protecting consumers'
privacy, including surveys of sites to examine their information
practices and privacy statements.
