Privacy Online: Fair Information Practices in the Electronic Marketplace: A Report to Congress

The FTC issued a new report in May 2000 titled Privacy Online: Fair Information Practices in the Electronic Marketplace: A Report to Congress after another survey of websites. As Chairman Pitofsky stated in the report the issue before the Commission was not whether self-regulation succeeded or failed but rather “whether the progress of online implementation of Fair Information Practice Principles continues to suggest that no legislation is warranted.”

Notwithstanding measurable gains since the 1999 Report to Congress (Self-Regulation and Online Privacy: A Report to Congress), a majority of the Commission found that self-regulation alone, without some legislation, is unlikely to provide online consumers with the level of protection they seek and deserve. Accordingly, a majority of the Commission recommended that Congress] consider legislation to complement [[self-regulation.