CNET: FTC: All eyes on consumer privacy

Howard Beales, the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC's) director of consumer protection, said that his regulatory group would bring action against an unspecified company doing business on the Internet. He said the company allegedly changed its privacy policy retroactively, opening up information that had been given with expectations of privacy to be used anew. Previously, the FTC's privacy actions have involved IT goofs, where companies like Tower Records mistakenly let customer records be accessed. The Commission settled with Tower, but this did little to put the fear of Government into the hearts of privacy policy authors, whose efforts have gone largely unchallenged.

Beales admitted some uncertainty as to how strict government regulation of privacy should be, especially relative to the low expectations of privacy that have developed offline. "It remains to be seen whether we're going to go back to where no one is really concerned, like in the offline world," Beales told CNET.

Beales also addressed the congressionally mandated plans for a do-not-spam registry the FTC was charged with drawing up. Beales previously has been quoted as criticizing such registry. When asked about its priority at the Commission, Beales said, "This is the plan, but we're not required to adopt the plan."