• by July 31, 2000

The Network Advertising Initiative, Internet ad trade group, last week received the blessing of the Federal Trade Commission for a set of self-regulatory principles to be used to protect consumer privacy. The FTC's approval of the guidelines means that DoubleClick and other online advertising companies have the go-ahead for creating a database combining people's names and addresses with information gathered about them through their surfing habits.

However, privacy advocates complained on Friday about the NAI proposal in a letter to the Senate Commerce Committee. The letter, cosigned by Jason Catlett, president of a spam-fighting company called Junkbusters, and Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, says the plan doesn't give people privacy rights they already have in other areas, such as the ability to access information in the profile or to limit use of the data.

Catlett pointed out that the companies are not supposed to collect "sensitive medical or financial data," but the guidelines don't make clear what medical information is sensitive and what isn't. "It's really not appropriate for these companies to be making this choice," he says.

The privacy advocates are complaining that they were left out of the self-regulatory process for the most part and only allowed a brief look at the guidelines. They are reviewing their legal options. Perhaps, even going to the District Court in Washington to challenge the rule.