July 27, 2000

The Federal Trade Commission Thursday approved a proposal by a group of major Internet ad companies to regulate the secret gathering of information used to profile Web customers.

The plan comes from the Network Advertising Initiative. It will require Web advertising companies to notify consumers of their Internet profiling activities and give customers the chance to choose whether information about their Web habits and interests can be gathered anonymously.

A privacy expert, Marc Rotenberg, complains that the plan is "written by industry for industry." He says the deal doesn't give the government any remedy if companies don't follow the guidelines.

Rotenberg -- head of the Electronic Privacy Information Center -- says his group is considering legal action to force the F.T.C. to take stronger steps.