“A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) advisory committee,
formed to study online access and security issues, has
completed its work and written a report that fails to offer a
recommendation on the most contentious problem it faced: How much
access should consumers be given to information that businesses
collect about them via the Internet?”
“Instead, the Advisory Committee on Online Access and Security,
a 42-member group made up of business representatives, privacy
experts and industry groups, outlined a series of options, ranging
from giving consumers total access to the information gathered
about them to more limited access. The FTC appointed the committee
in January.”
“It was going to be difficult to come to any consensus,” said
committee member Richard Bates, vice president for government
relations at the Walt Disney Co., citing the diversity on the
panel. But Bates said he believes the committee’s report will play
a useful role in the privacy debate – a view that was echoed by
some other committee members in interviews.”