FTC seeks tougher consumer privacy regulations (BLOG)

The government’s chief consumer protection agency said Monday that it intended to take direct aim at the vast industry that has grown up...

The government’s chief consumer protection agency said Monday that it intended to take direct aim at the vast industry that has grown up around the buying and selling of information about US consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission called on Congress to enact legislation regulating data brokers, which compile and trade a wide range of personal and financial data about millions of consumers. The legislation would give consumers access to information collected about them and allow them to correct and update such data.

The agency also sent a cautionary signal to technology and advertising companies regarding a “Do Not Track’’ mechanism that allows consumers to opt out of having their online behavior monitored and shared. It warned that if companies did not voluntarily provide a satisfactory Do Not Track option, it would support additional laws that mandate it.

The recommendations, part of a sweeping set of guidelines in an FTC report Monday, represent the government’s latest move to address the issue of consumer privacy.

On one side of the debate are data brokers like Experian and Acxiom, which collect and sell information, and the huge ecosystem of technology and online advertising companies - including Google, Microsoft, and Facebook - that target consumers based on their personal preferences.

On the other side are consumer groups and privacy advocates that are concerned about the volume of data being collected and how little control consumers have over it.

The government’s Do Not Track efforts are likely to collide with the desire of companies to continue the lucrative business of collecting, using, and sharing information about the people who use their services. Although these businesses say they support limits on using this information, they generally still want to be able to collect it.

One official from a prominent technology company, who declined to be named because the discussions with the government were continuing, said that “do not collect is basically death for online advertising.’’

But the trade commission said unequivocally that it believed consumers who said they did not want to be tracked meant just that - no tracking at all.

“Do Not Track from our perspective certainly means ‘do not collect’ - not ‘do not advertise back,’ ’’ said Jon Leibowitz, chairman of the FTC.

Leibowitz said the commission did not endorse any specific congressional legislation, but he mentioned a bill introduced in the Senate in April 2011 by John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and John McCain, Republican of Arizona. That bill seeks to require companies to tell consumers what data are being collected and allow them to opt out.

bostonglobe