• by Masha Geller , March 27, 2002

Even though their own website looks like they haven’t done anything since October of last year, the Federal Trade Commission has been hard at work on online privacy initiatives. Today, for example, they released the results of a December 2001 study, commissioned by the Progress & Freedom Foundation, which says that websites are collecting less personal information from Internet users than before.

According to the authors of the report, "commercial websites are, by virtually every measure, collecting less information than they were two years ago. Not only do fewer sites collect [personal identifying information], those that do collect less, and dramatically fewer sites are utilizing third-party cookies."

According to the study, of the 100 most popular websites, 84 are collecting personal information other than email address – down from 96 in the past. Additionally, these popular sites cut their use of third-party cookies by more than one-third.

Study authors said the decline could have several explanations, one being that the marketplace is placing less value on the collection of such information than it did in March 2000, at the height of the dot-com boom. Marketers also may have cut back on collection practices because of negative reactions from consumers.

In the study’s random sample of smaller sites, the proportion of sites collecting personal information fell from 87% to 74%, and the use of third-party cookies dropped by half. In addition, websites are increasingly providing consumers with more information on privacy policies, and asking them to opt-in, rather than having them opt-out.