Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security

In December 1999, the Federal Trade Commission established the Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security (ACOAS) pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (the "FACA"). The FTC asked the ACOAS to consider the parameters of "reasonable access" to personal information collected from and about consumers online and "adequate security" for such information.

The FTC appointed 40 Advisory Committee members who represented varied viewpoints on implementing Access and Security online. The ACOAS held four public meetings between February and May 2000. In addition, Advisory Committee members worked in subgroups between meetings to address specific topics in more depth and to draft working papers and sections of the ACOAS report for discussion at the public meetings.

The ACOAS submitted its final report to the FTC on May 15, 2000. The report presented options for implementation fair information practice principles and the costs and benefits of each option. The duties of the ACOAS were solely advisory, and were focused only on developing implementation options for Access and Security.