PRIVACY ONLINE:

A REPORT TO CONGRESS

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

JUNE 1998
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

Robert Pitofsky Chairman

Mary L. Azcuenaga Commissioner

Sheila F. Anthony Commissioner

Mozelle W. Thompson Commissioner

Orson Swindle Commissioner

BUREAU OF CONSUMER PROTECTION

Authors

Martha K. Landesberg Division of Credit Practices

Toby Milgrom Levin Division of Advertising Practices

Caroline G. Curtin Division of Advertising Practices

Ori Lev Division of Credit Practices

Survey Advisors

Manoj Hastak Division of Advertising Practices

Louis Silversin Bureau of Economics

Don M. Blumenthal Litigation and Customer Support Center

Information and Technology Management Office

George A. Pascoe Litigation and Customer Support Center

Information and Technology Management Office
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary ......................................................... . i

I. Introduction .......................................................... . 1

II. History and Overview ................................................... . 2

A. The Federal Trade Commission’s Approach to Online Privacy ................ . 2

B. Consumer Privacy Online ............................................ . 2

1. Growth of the Online Market ..................................... . 2

2. Privacy Concerns .............................................. . 3

C. Children’s Privacy Online ............................................ . 4

1. Growth in the Number of Children Online ........................... . 4

2. Safety and Privacy Concerns ..................................... . 4

III. Fair Information Practice Principles ......................................... . 7

A. Fair Information Practice Principles Generally ............................ . 7

1. Notice/Awareness ............................................. . 7

2. Choice/Consent ............................................... . 8

3. Access/Participation ........................................... . 9

4. Integrity/Security ............................................. . 10

5. Enforcement/Redress .......................................... . 10

B. Application of Fair Information Practice Principles to Information Collected From

Children ........................................................ . 12

1. Parental Notice/Awareness and Parental Choice/Consent ............... . 12

2. Access/Participation and Integrity/Security ......................... . 13

IV. Industry Association Guidelines .......................................... . 15

A. Industry Association Guidelines ...................................... . 15

1. Notice/Awareness ............................................ . 15

2. Choice/Consent .............................................. . 16

3. Access/Participation .......................................... . 16

4. Integrity/Security ............................................. . 16

5. Enforcement/Redress .......................................... . 16

B. Guidelines Regarding Children’s Information ............................ . 17

V. Survey of Commercial Web Sites ......................................... . 19

A. Overview ....................................................... . 19

B. General Survey Findings ............................................ . 21

1. Web Sites .................................................. . 21

2. Personal Information Collection .................................. . 22

3. Frequency of Disclosures ....................................... . 27

4. Nature of Disclosures ......................................... . 29

C. Children’s Survey Findings .......................................... . 31
1. Personal Information Collection from Children ...................... . 31

2. Frequency of Disclosures ....................................... . 34

3. Nature of Disclosures ......................................... . 35

4. Parental Involvement .......................................... . 37

VI. Conclusions ......................................................... . 39

Endnotes ................................................................ . 45

Appendix A: Methodology

Appendix B: Surfer Instructions (General and Children’s Surveys)

Appendix C: Survey Samples and Results

Appendix D: Supporting Data Tables

Appendix E: Industry Guidelines
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

C A medical clinic’s online doctor-referral service invites consumers to submit their

name, postal address, e-mail address, insurance company, any comments concerning

their medical problems, and to indicate whether they wish to receive information on

any of a number of topics, including urinary incontinence, hypertension, cholesterol,

prostate cancer, and diabetes. The online application for the clinic’s health education

membership program asks consumers to submit their name, address, telephone

number, date of birth, marital status, gender, insurance company, and the date and

location of their last hospitalization. The clinic’s Web site says nothing about how the

information consumers provide will be used or whether it will be made available to

third parties.

C A child-directed site collects personal information, such as a child’s full name, postal

address, e-mail address, gender, and age. The site also asks a child whether he or she

has received gifts in the form of stocks, cash, savings bonds, mutual funds, or

certificates of deposit; who has given these gifts; whether monetary gifts were invested

in mutual funds, stocks, or bonds; and whether the child’s parents own mutual funds. 

Elsewhere on the site, contest winners’ full name, age, city, state and zip code are

posted. The Web site does not tell children to ask their parents for permission before

providing personal information and does not appear to take any steps to involve

parents. Further, the site says nothing about whether the information is disclosed to

third parties.

* * *

The World Wide Web is an exciting new marketplace for consumers. It offers easy access

to a broad array of goods, services, and information, but also serves as a source of vast amounts

of personal information about consumers, including children. While the online consumer market

is growing exponentially, there are also indications that consumers are wary of participating in it

because of concerns about how their personal information is used. As the above examples show,

these concerns are real, for both adults and children.

The Commission has been involved in addressing online privacy issues for almost as long as

there has been an online marketplace and has held a series of workshops and hearings on such

issues. Throughout, the Commission’s goal has been to encourage and facilitate effective self-
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

ii

regulation as the preferred approach to protecting consumer privacy online. These efforts have

been based on the belief that greater protection of personal privacy on the Web will not only

protect consumers, but also increase consumer confidence and ultimately their participation in the

online marketplace. In this report, the Commission summarizes widely-accepted principles

regarding information collection, use, and dissemination; describes the current state of information

collection and privacy protection online; and assesses the extent of industry’s self-regulatory

response.

Government studies in the United States and abroad have recognized certain core principles

of fair information practice. These principles are widely accepted as essential to ensuring that the

collection, use, and dissemination of personal information are conducted fairly and in a manner

consistent with consumer privacy interests. These core principles require that consumers be given

notice of an entity’s information practices; that consumers be given choice with respect to the use

and dissemination of information collected from or about them; that consumers be given access to

information about them collected and stored by an entity; and that the data collector take

appropriate steps to ensure the security and integrity of any information collected. Moreover, it is

widely recognized that fair information practice codes or guidelines should contain enforcement

mechanisms to ensure compliance with these core principles. With respect to the collection of

information from children, a wide variety of public policies recognize the important supervisory

role of parents in commercial transactions involving their children. Parental control is also the

touchstone for application of fair information practice policies to the collection of information

from children.

The Commission solicited industry association fair information practice guidelines to assess

their conformity with these core principles. This assessment shows that industry association

guidelines generally encourage members to provide notice of their information practices and some

choice with respect thereto, but fail to provide for access and security or for enforcement

mechanisms.

The Commission also examined the practices of commercial sites on the World Wide Web. 

The Commission’s survey of over 1,400 Web sites reveals that industry’s efforts to encourage
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iii

voluntary adoption of the most basic fair information practice principle — notice — have fallen

far short of what is needed to protect consumers. The Commission’s survey shows that the vast

majority of Web sites — upward of 85% — collect personal information from consumers. Few of

the sites — only 14% in the Commission’s random sample of commercial Web sites — provide

any notice with respect to their information practices, and fewer still — approximately 2% —

provide notice by means of a comprehensive privacy policy. The results with respect to the

collection of information from children are also troubling. Eighty-nine percent of children’s sites

surveyed collect personal information from children. While 54% of children’s sites provide some

form of disclosure of their information practices, few sites take any steps to provide for

meaningful parental involvement in the process. Only 23% of sites even tell children to seek

parental permission before providing personal information, fewer still (7%) say they will notify

parents of their information practices, and less than 10% provide for parental control over the

collection and/or use of information from children. The Commission’s examination of industry

guidelines and actual online practices reveals that effective industry self-regulation with respect to

the online collection, use, and dissemination of personal information has not yet taken hold.

In light of the Commission’s findings and significant consumer concerns regarding privacy

online, it is evident that substantially greater incentives are needed to spur self-regulation and

ensure widespread implementation of basic privacy principles. The Commission is currently

considering such incentives and possible courses of action to adequately protect the privacy of

online consumers generally. The Commission will make its recommendations on this subject this

summer.

In the specific area of children’s online privacy, however, the Commission now recommends

that Congress develop legislation placing parents in control of the online collection and use of

personal information from their children. Such legislation would require Web sites that collect

personal identifying information from children to provide actual notice to parents and obtain

parental consent. The timing of such notice and consent would vary depending on the age of the

child, and the nature and uses of the information collected. Such legislation would protect

children and ensure that parents have knowledge of, and control over, the collection of
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

iv

information from their children.

The development of the online marketplace is at a critical juncture. If growing consumer

concerns about online privacy are not addressed, electronic commerce will not reach its full

potential. To date, industry has had only limited success in implementing fair information

practices and adopting self-regulatory regimes with respect to the online collection, use, and

dissemination of personal information. Accordingly, the Commission now recommends legislation

to protect children online and this summer will recommend an appropriate response to protect the

privacy of all online consumers.
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I. INTRODUCTION

 This report to Congress provides an assessment of the effectiveness of self-regulation as a

means of protecting consumer privacy on the World Wide Web (“the Web”).1 It is based on a

comprehensive online survey of the information practices of commercial Web sites, including sites

directed to children, conducted in March 1998; an examination of current industry guidelines

governing information practices online; and the record developed in Commission hearings and

workshops held since 1995.

 Part II of the report provides a brief history of the Commission’s work in the area of online

privacy, and a summary of the privacy concerns raised by the new online marketplace. Part III

describes what have come to be recognized as the core principles of privacy-protective

information practices. Part IV then compares current industry guidelines with these generally

accepted principles, and Part V presents the findings of the Commission’s survey of Web sites. 

Part VI sets forth the Commission’s conclusions.
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II. HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

A. THE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION’S APPROACH TO ONLINE

PRIVACY

The Commission has been involved in addressing online privacy issues for almost as long as

there has been an online marketplace. In April 1995, staff held its first public workshop on

privacy on the Internet, and in November of that year the Commission held hearings on online

privacy as part of its extensive hearings on the implications of globalization and technological

innovation for competition and consumer protection issues. 

In June 1996, the Commission conducted a two-day workshop to explore privacy concerns

raised by the online collection of personal information, and the special concerns raised by the

collection of personal information from children. The workshop considered an array of

alternatives to address those concerns, including industry self-regulation, technology-based

solutions, consumer and business education, and government regulation. A summary of the

workshop testimony was published by the Commission in a December 1996 staff report entitled

Consumer Privacy on the Global Information Infrastructure. A second workshop in June 1997

delved more deeply into these issues.2 In all of these endeavors the Commission’s goals have

been (1) to identify potential consumer protection issues related to online marketing and

commercial transactions; (2) to provide a public forum for the exchange of ideas and presentation

of research and technology; and (3) to encourage effective self-regulation.3

B. CONSUMER PRIVACY ONLINE

1. GROWTH OF THE ONLINE MARKET

The World Wide Web is an exciting new marketplace for consumers. It offers easy access

not only to a vast array of goods and services, but also to rich sources of information that enable
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consumers to make better-informed purchasing decisions. It also offers the convenience of

shopping from the office or home. This information-rich medium also serves as a source of vast

amounts of personal information about consumers. Commercial Web sites collect personal

information explicitly through a variety of means, including registration pages, user surveys, and

online contests, application forms, and order forms. Web sites also collect personal information

through means that are not obvious to consumers, such as “cookies.”

4

The online consumer market is growing exponentially. In early 1997, 51 million adults were

already online in the U.S. and Canada,5 and 73% reported that they had shopped for product

information on the World Wide Web.6 By December 1997, the number of adults online in the

U.S. and Canada had climbed to 58 million, and 10 million had actually purchased a product or

service online.7 Analysts estimate that Internet advertising — which totaled approximately $301

million in 1996 — will swell to $4.35 billion by the year 2000.8

2. PRIVACY CONCERNS

While these figures suggest that the online marketplace is growing rapidly, there are also

indications that consumers are wary of participating in it. Surveys have shown that increasing

numbers of consumers are concerned about how their personal information is used in the

electronic marketplace. This research indicates that consumers have less confidence in how online

service providers and merchants handle personal information than they have in how traditionally

offline institutions, such as hospitals and banks, handle such information.9 In fact, a substantial

number of online consumers would rather forego information or products available through the

Web than provide a Web site personal information without knowing what the site’s information

practices are.10 According to the results of a March 1998 Business Week survey, consumers not

currently using the Internet ranked concerns about the privacy of their personal information and

communications as the top reason they have stayed off the Internet.11 Clearly, consumers care

deeply about the privacy and security of their personal information in the online environment and

are looking for greater protections.12 These findings suggest that consumers will continue to

distrust online companies and will remain wary of engaging in electronic commerce until
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meaningful and effective consumer privacy protections are implemented in the online marketplace. 

If such protections are not implemented, the online marketplace will fail to reach its full potential.

C. CHILDREN’S PRIVACY ONLINE

1. GROWTH IN THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN ONLINE

Children represent a large and rapidly growing segment of online consumers and are being

actively targeted by commercial Web sites.13 Children use the Web for a wide variety of activities,

including homework, informal learning, browsing, playing games, corresponding with electronic

pen pals by e-mail, placing messages on electronic bulletin boards and participating in chat

rooms.14 Among the activities most attractive to children are those that allow them to

communicate directly with their peers, for example, chat rooms, bulletin boards and e-mail.15

Almost 10 million (14%) of America’s 69 million children are now online, with over 4 million

accessing the Internet from school and 5.7 million from home.16 Children are also avid consumers

and represent a large and powerful segment of the marketplace. They are estimated to spend

billions of dollars a year, and to influence the expenditure of billions more.17 Their growing

presence online, therefore, creates enormous opportunities for marketers to promote their

products and services to an eager audience.18 At the same time, the Web offers an easy way to

collect large amounts of detailed marketing data from and about children. 

2. SAFETY AND PRIVACY CONCERNS

A wide variety of detailed personal information is being collected online from and about

children, often without actual notice to or an opportunity for control by parents.19 This

information may be collected from children at various places on a site: when the child is

registering for a contest, enrolling in an electronic pen pal program, completing a survey, or

playing a game. A child may also reveal such personal information in the course of participating

in chat rooms or posting messages on electronic bulletin boards — areas that are publicly

accessible to anyone surfing the Web.20 These practices present unique privacy and safety
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concerns because of the particular vulnerability of children, the immediacy and ease with which

information can be collected from them, and the ability of the online medium to circumvent the

traditional gatekeeping role of the parent. 

The most potentially serious safety concern is presented by the posting of personal

identifying information by and about children — i.e., information that can be used to identify

children, such as name, postal or e-mail address — in interactive public areas, like chat rooms and

bulletin boards, that are accessible to all online users. These activities enable children to

communicate freely with strangers, including adults. The FBI and Justice Department’s “Innocent

Images” investigation has revealed that online services and bulletin boards are quickly becoming

the most powerful resources used by predators to identify and contact children.21 Further,

anecdotal evidence indicates that many children surfing the Web claim to have experienced

problems such as attempted password theft and inappropriate advances by adults in children’s

chat rooms.22 

Traditionally, parents have instructed children to avoid speaking with strangers. The

collecting or posting of personal information in chat rooms and on bulletin boards online runs

contrary to that traditional safety message. Children are told by parents not to talk to strangers

whom they meet on the street, but they are given a contrary message by Web sites that encourage

them to interact with strangers in their homes via the Web. The dangers in the Web environment

are heightened by the fact that children cannot determine whether they are dealing with another

child or an adult posing as a child.

In addition to these safety issues are privacy concerns raised by commercial Web sites’

collection of personal information from children for marketing purposes. As described below, the

practice is widespread and includes the collection of personal information from even very young

children without any parental involvement or awareness. 

There is considerable concern about online collection practices that bypass parents, who

have traditionally protected children from marketing abuses.23 Children generally lack the

developmental capacity and judgment to give meaningful consent to the release of personal

information to a third party.24 This is an even greater problem when children are offered an
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incentive for releasing personal information, or when release of personal information is a

prerequisite to registering for a contest, joining a kid’s club, or playing a game.25

Survey data confirm that parents strongly favor limiting the collection and use of personal

information from and about their children. For example, 97% of parents whose children use the

Internet believe Web sites should not sell or rent personal information relating to children, and

72% object to a Web site’s requesting a child’s name and address when the child registers at the

site, even if such information is used only internally.26

In sum, the immediacy and ease with which personal information can be collected from

children online, combined with the limited capacity of children to understand fully the potentially

serious safety and privacy implications of providing that information, have created deep concerns

about current information practices involving children online.
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III.FAIR INFORMATION PRACTICE PRINCIPLES

A. FAIR INFORMATION PRACTICE PRINCIPLES GENERALLY

Over the past quarter century, government agencies in the United States, Canada, and

Europe have studied the manner in which entities collect and use personal information — their

“information practices” — and the safeguards required to assure those practices are fair and

provide adequate privacy protection.27 The result has been a series of reports, guidelines, and

model codes that represent widely-accepted principles concerning fair information practices.28

Common to all of these documents [hereinafter referred to as “fair information practice codes”]

are five core principles of privacy protection: (1) Notice/Awareness; (2) Choice/Consent;

(3) Access/Participation; (4) Integrity/Security; and (5) Enforcement/Redress.

1. NOTICE/AWARENESS

The most fundamental principle is notice. Consumers should be given notice of an entity’s

information practices before any personal information is collected from them. Without notice, a

consumer cannot make an informed decision as to whether and to what extent to disclose personal

information.29 Moreover, three of the other principles discussed below — choice/consent,

access/participation, and enforcement/redress — are only meaningful when a consumer has notice

of an entity’s policies, and his or her rights with respect thereto.30

While the scope and content of notice will depend on the entity’s substantive information

practices, notice of some or all of the following have been recognized as essential to ensuring that

consumers are properly informed before divulging personal information: 

C identification of the entity collecting the data;31

C identification of the uses to which the data will be put;32

C identification of any potential recipients of the data;33
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C the nature of the data collected and the means by which it is collected if not obvious

(passively, by means of electronic monitoring, or actively, by asking the consumer to

provide the information);34

C whether the provision of the requested data is voluntary or required, and the

consequences of a refusal to provide the requested information;35 and

C the steps taken by the data collector to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and quality

of the data.36

Some information practice codes state that the notice should also identify any available

consumer rights, including: any choice respecting the use of the data;37 whether the consumer has

been given a right of access to the data;38 the ability of the consumer to contest inaccuracies;39 the

availability of redress for violations of the practice code;40 and how such rights can be exercised.41

In the Internet context, notice can be accomplished easily by the posting of an information

practice disclosure describing an entity’s information practices on a company’s site on the Web. 

To be effective, such a disclosure should be clear and conspicuous, posted in a prominent

location, and readily accessible from both the site’s home page and any Web page where

information is collected from the consumer. It should also be unavoidable and understandable so

that it gives consumers meaningful and effective notice of what will happen to the personal

information they are asked to divulge.

2. CHOICE/CONSENT

The second widely-accepted core principle of fair information practice is consumer choice

or consent.42 At its simplest, choice means giving consumers options as to how any personal

information collected from them may be used. Specifically, choice relates to secondary uses of

information — i.e., uses beyond those necessary to complete the contemplated transaction. Such

secondary uses can be internal, such as placing the consumer on the collecting company’s mailing

list in order to market additional products or promotions, or external, such as the transfer of

information to third parties.
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Traditionally, two types of choice/consent regimes have been considered: opt-in or opt-out. 

Opt-in regimes require affirmative steps by the consumer to allow the collection and/or use of

information; opt-out regimes require affirmative steps to prevent the collection and/or use of such

information. The distinction lies in the default rule when no affirmative steps are taken by the

consumer.43 Choice can also involve more than a binary yes/no option. Entities can, and do,

allow consumers to tailor the nature of the information they reveal and the uses to which it will be

put.44 Thus, for example, consumers can be provided separate choices as to whether they wish to

be on a company’s general internal mailing list or a marketing list sold to third parties. In order to

be effective, any choice regime should provide a simple and easily-accessible way for consumers

to exercise their choice.

In the online environment, choice easily can be exercised by simply clicking a box on the

computer screen that indicates a user’s decision with respect to the use and/or dissemination of

the information being collected. The online environment also presents new possibilities to move

beyond the opt-in/opt-out paradigm. For example, consumers could be required to specify their

preferences regarding information use before entering a Web site, thus effectively eliminating any

need for default rules.45

3. ACCESS/PARTICIPATION

Access is the third core principle. It refers to an individual’s ability both to access data

about him or herself — i.e., to view the data in an entity’s files — and to contest that data’s

accuracy and completeness.46 Both are essential to ensuring that data are accurate and complete. 

To be meaningful, access must encompass timely and inexpensive access to data, a simple means

for contesting inaccurate or incomplete data, a mechanism by which the data collector can verify

the information, and the means by which corrections and/or consumer objections can be added to

the data file and sent to all data recipients.47
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4. INTEGRITY/SECURITY

The fourth widely accepted principle is that data be accurate and secure. To assure data

integrity, collectors must take reasonable steps, such as using only reputable sources of data and

cross-referencing data against multiple sources, providing consumer access to data, and

destroying untimely data or converting it to anonymous form.48

Security involves both managerial and technical measures to protect against loss and the

unauthorized access, destruction, use, or disclosure of the data.49 Managerial measures include

internal organizational measures that limit access to data and ensure that those individuals with

access do not utilize the data for unauthorized purposes. Technical security measures to prevent

unauthorized access include encryption in the transmission and storage of data; limits on access

through use of passwords; and the storage of data on secure servers or computers that are

inaccessible by modem.50 

5. ENFORCEMENT/REDRESS

It is generally agreed that the core principles of privacy protection can only be effective if

there is a mechanism in place to enforce them.51 Absent an enforcement and redress mechanism, a

fair information practice code is merely suggestive rather than prescriptive, and does not ensure

compliance with core fair information practice principles. Among the alternative enforcement

approaches are industry self-regulation; legislation that would create private remedies for

consumers; and/or regulatory schemes enforceable through civil and criminal sanctions.52

a. Self-Regulation53

To be effective, self-regulatory regimes should include both mechanisms to ensure

compliance (enforcement) and appropriate means of recourse by injured parties (redress).54

Mechanisms to ensure compliance include making acceptance of and compliance with a code of

fair information practices a condition of membership in an industry association;55 external audits to

verify compliance; and certification of entities that have adopted and comply with the code at

issue.56 A self-regulatory regime with many of these principles has recently been adopted by the

individual reference services industry.57
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Appropriate means of individual redress include, at a minimum, institutional mechanisms to

ensure that consumers have a simple and effective way to have their concerns addressed.58 Thus,

a self-regulatory system should provide a means to investigate complaints from individual

consumers and ensure that consumers are aware of how to access such a system.59

If the self-regulatory code has been breached, consumers should have a remedy for the

violation. Such a remedy can include both the righting of the wrong (e.g., correction of any

misinformation, cessation of unfair practices) and compensation for any harm suffered by the

consumer.60 Monetary sanctions would serve both to compensate the victim of unfair practices

and as an incentive for industry compliance. Industry codes can provide for alternative dispute

resolution mechanisms to provide appropriate compensation.

b. Private Remedies

A statutory scheme could create private rights of action for consumers harmed by an entity’s

unfair information practices. Several of the major information practice codes, including the

seminal 1973 HEW Report, call for implementing legislation.61 The creation of private remedies

would help create strong incentives for entities to adopt and implement fair information practices

and ensure compensation for individuals harmed by misuse of their personal information. 

Important questions would need to be addressed in such legislation, e.g., the definition of unfair

information practices; the availability of compensatory, liquidated and/or punitive damages;62 and

the elements of any such cause of action.

c. Government Enforcement

Finally, government enforcement of fair information practices, by means of civil or criminal

penalties, is a third means of enforcement. Fair information practice codes have called for some

government enforcement, leaving open the question of the scope and extent of such powers.63

Whether enforcement is civil or criminal likely will depend on the nature of the data at issue and

the violation committed.64
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B. APPLICATION OF FAIR INFORMATION PRACTICE PRINCIPLES TO

INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM CHILDREN

The fair information practice codes discussed above do not address personal information

collected from children. They are, however, applicable to parents, in light of the special status

that children generally have been accorded under the law. This status as a special, vulnerable

group is premised on the belief that children lack the analytical abilities and judgment of adults.65

It is evidenced by an array of federal and state laws that protect children, including those that ban

sales of tobacco and alcohol to minors, prohibit child pornography, require parental consent for

medical procedures, and make contracts with children voidable. In the specific arenas of

marketing and privacy rights, moreover, several federal statutes and regulations recognize both

the need for heightened protections for children and the special role that parents play in

implementing these protections.66

1. PARENTAL NOTICE/AWARENESS AND PARENTAL CHOICE/CONSENT

It is parents who should receive the notice and have the means to control the collection and

use of personal information from their children. The Commission staff set forth this principle in a

July 15, 1997 letter to the Center for Media Education.67 In addition, the letter identifies certain

practices that appear to violate the Federal Trade Commission Act:

(a) It is a deceptive practice to represent that a site is collecting personal identifying

information from a child for a particular purpose (e.g. to earn points to redeem a

premium), when the information will also be used for another purpose that parents

would find material, in the absence of a clear and prominent disclosure to that effect;

and

(b) It is likely to be an unfair practice to collect personal identifying information, such as a

name, e-mail address, home address, or phone number, from children and to sell or

otherwise disclose such identifying information to third parties, or to post it publicly 
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13

online, without providing parents with adequate notice and an opportunity to control

the collection and use of the information through prior parental consent.

This letter applies the Commission’s Section 5 authority for the first time to the principles of

notice and choice in the online collection of information from children. The principles set out in

the staff opinion letter form an appropriate basis for public policy in this area. 

To assure that notice and choice are effective, a Web site should provide adequate notice to

a parent that the site wishes to collect personal identifying information from the child,68 and give

the parent an opportunity to control the collection and use of that information. Further, according

to the staff opinion letter, in cases where the information may be released to third parties or the

general public, the site should obtain the parent’s actual or verifiable consent69 to its collection.70

The content of the notice should include at a minimum, the elements described above,71 but,

in addition, should take into account the fact that online activities may be unique and unfamiliar to

parents. Thus, a notice should be sufficiently detailed to tell parents clearly the type(s) of

information the Web site collects from children and the steps parents can take to control the

collection and use of their child’s personal information. Where a Web site offers children

interactive activities such as chat, message boards, free e-mail services, posting of home pages

and key pal programs, it should explain to parents the nature of these activities and that children’s

participation enables others to communicate directly with them. Such notice empowers parents to

monitor their children’s interactions and to help protect their children from the risks of

inappropriate online interactions.

2. ACCESS/PARTICIPATION AND INTEGRITY/SECURITY

Since parents may not be fully aware of what personal information a site has collected from

their child, the access/participation principle is a particularly important one with respect to

information collected from children. To provide informed consent to the retention and/or use of

information collected from their children, parents need to be given access to the information

collected from their children, particularly if any of the information is collected prior to providing

notice to the parent. The principle of integrity, which addresses the accuracy of the data, is also
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important for children’s information. Parents have an interest in assuring that whatever

information Web sites collect from children or have otherwise obtained about their children is

accurate. This is particularly important in contexts that involve decisions that impact on the child

or family, such as educational or health decisions. In addition, since children’s information is

considered to be a more sensitive type of information, sites should take the same steps identified

above to assure that children’s data is secure from unauthorized uses or disclosures.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

15

IV.INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES

Throughout the series of Commission workshops on online privacy issues, the online

industry has asserted that self-regulation is a more efficient and effective means of creating online

privacy protections than government regulation. To gauge the status and effectiveness of current

self-regulatory efforts, on March 5, 1998 the Commission published a Federal Register Notice

(the “Notice”) requesting that trade associations and industry groups voluntarily submit copies of

their online information practice guidelines and principles.72 Nine industry-specific guidelines

were submitted.73 Copies of these guidelines are included in Appendix E. The guidelines do not

address all of the core fair information practice principles discussed above, but all encourage

companies to provide notice of at least some of their information practices, and most encourage

choice with respect to the disclosure of personal information to third parties. For the most part,

the submitted guidelines do not address access or security. Most importantly, very few provide

any kind of enforcement mechanism, an essential element of effective self-regulation.

A. INDUSTRY ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES

1. NOTICE/AWARENESS

All of the guidelines submitted encourage member companies to provide at least some

notice of their information practices. The extent of the suggested notice ranges from a general

recommendation to post a privacy policy on Web sites,74 to more specific exhortations to provide

notice with respect to the nature of information collected, how it is collected, its intended uses,

the nature and purposes of any intended disclosures to third parties, and the mechanism to opt-out

of any third-party disclosure.75 None of the guidelines discusses the need to provide notice about

access or security.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

16

2. CHOICE/CONSENT

Most of the guidelines suggest that member companies provide some degree of choice with

respect to the use of personal information.76 Here too there is a range in what is suggested by the

guidelines. Some guidelines suggest giving consumers choice with respect to most secondary

uses of their information, both external (i.e., disclosure to third parties) and internal (i.e.,

marketing back to the consumer);77 others suggest giving consumers a choice solely with respect

to external uses.78 All of the guidelines speak of choice in terms of opt-out options for the

consumer; none adopts an opt-in regime for adult consumers.

3. ACCESS/PARTICIPATION

Several of the industry guidelines address consumer access to information by providing

generally that procedures should be established to ensure accuracy of the information, including

allowing consumers access to, and the opportunity to correct, information collected about them.79

Other guidelines fail to make any reference to the access principle.

4. INTEGRITY/SECURITY

Only the banking and financial industry association guidelines, and the individual reference

services guidelines, make any reference to security issues. These guidelines call generally for

appropriate security procedures, including the limitation of employee access to data.80

5. ENFORCEMENT/REDRESS

With limited exception,81 the submitted guidelines contain no enforcement mechanisms. 

Only one of the guidelines conditions further membership and information sharing on adherence to

the guidelines.82 One other set of guidelines provides for peer review of alleged violations, but it

is not binding.83 All of the other guidelines and policies submitted are merely exhortatory.84 As

discussed above, the absence of enforcement mechanisms significantly weakens the effectiveness

of industry-promulgated guidelines as a self-regulatory tool. This is especially true if member

companies fail to voluntarily adhere to suggested policies.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

17

B. GUIDELINES REGARDING CHILDREN’S INFORMATION

The Commission received two sets of guidelines regarding collection and use of information

from children in response to its March 1998 Notice: the Children’s Advertising Review Unit of

the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.’s (“CARU”) Guidelines for Interactive Electronic

Media (“CARU Guidelines”) and the Direct Marketing Association’s (“DMA”) Online Data

Collection from or about Children (“DMA Children’s Guidelines”).85 Both guidelines address

younger children.86

The CARU Guidelines, issued in April 1997, are consistent with the principles outlined in

the staff opinion letter described above. They require that advertisers make “reasonable efforts”

to provide notice and choice to parents when information is collected from children online,

including the collection of information through “passive tracking.”

87 In all cases, the notice must

specify the means by which parents can correct or remove the information collected from a

company’s database.88 The guidelines require prior parental consent (opt-in) to the collection of

personal identifying information from children under the following circumstances: (1) when the

information would enable the recipient to contact the child offline, regardless of the intended use; 

(2) when the information would be publicly posted so as to enable others to communicate directly

with the child online; and (3) when the information would be shared with third parties.89 Under

other circumstances, such as the collection for internal use of an e-mail address, first name, or

hometown, the site must provide notice to the parent and an opportunity to opt-out.90 If a site

collects only anonymous or aggregate information, the guidelines require notice of the intended

uses of the information, but not parental consent.91

In addition, CARU has an enforcement mechanism in place to promote compliance with its

online privacy guidelines,92 and has achieved a remarkably high level of compliance under this

mechanism in the offline media over a long period of time.93 While CARU has worked to

encourage Web sites to adhere to its privacy guidelines with respect to the collection of personal

information from children online, to date it has not achieved the same widespread adherence it has

achieved in other media.94
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

18

The DMA Children’s Guidelines, which were adopted in January 1997, do not conform to

the principles set forth in the staff opinion letter. The DMA is working now, however, to

strengthen and refine its children’s guidelines. The current DMA Children’s Guidelines urge

marketers to: (1) take into account a child’s age, knowledge, sophistication, and maturity when

collecting information; (2) encourage young children to obtain their parents’ permission;95 and (3)

support parental control over the collection of data from children through notice and opt-out.96

These guidelines do not call for actual notice to parents or for prior parental consent, even where

the information is disclosed to third parties or otherwise made publicly available. 
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

19

V. SURVEY OF COMMERCIAL WEB SITES

A. OVERVIEW

With these fair information practice principles and industry guidelines as background, the

Commission conducted a survey of commercial sites on the World Wide Web. In July 1997, the

Commission set out the objective of this survey: to determine whether self-regulation is an

effective means of protecting consumer privacy on the Web. The Commission stated that it

would measure the effectiveness of self-regulation by determining how many commercial Web

sites are providing notice of their information practices and offering consumers choice regarding

the collection and use of their personal information online.97 To that end, in March 1998

Commission staff conducted an online survey of 1,402 commercial Web sites, including 212 sites

directed to children.

The survey consists of six samples — group A, drawn from all commercial U.S. sites “likely

to be of interest to consumers;” groups B, C, and D, drawn from all such sites in the health, retail,

and financial sectors, respectively;98 group E, drawn from all commercial U.S. sites “primarily

directed to children aged fifteen or younger;” and group F, which includes the most popular U.S.

commercial sites.99 There are 674 sites in the Comprehensive Sample (group A), 137 sites in the

Health Sample (group B), 142 sites in the Retail Sample (group C), 125 sites in the Financial

Sample (group D), 212 sites in the Children’s Sample (group E), and 111 sites in the Most

Popular Sample (group F). A detailed methodology describing the survey sample selection, data

collection, and validation procedures is included in Appendix A. A list of the sites included in

each sample is included in Appendix C.

Forty Commission staff members [hereinafter “surfers”] surveyed the sites in each of the

samples in the two-week period from March 9-20, 1998. Once a surfer concluded that a site

qualified for inclusion in one of the samples (i.e., it was “likely to be of interest to consumers” or

was “primarily directed to children aged fifteen or younger”), the surfer searched the site to

determine whether it collects personal information from online consumers and, if so, to ascertain
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

20

the kinds of information it collects and whether it discloses its information practices.100 In the

case of sites directed to children, personal information collected on a payment form was deemed

to be collected from adults; all other personal information sought by children’s sites was

considered to be collected from children.

For purposes of this survey, “personal information” was defined to include two broad

information categories: information that can be used to identify consumers, such as name, postal

or e-mail address (“personal identifying information”); and demographic and preference

information (such as age, gender, income level, hobbies, or interests) that can be used either in

aggregate, non-identifying form for purposes such as market analysis, or in conjunction with

personal identifying information to create detailed personal profiles of consumers.

To determine whether Web sites are giving consumers notice of their information practices

and offering consumers choice, Commission staff searched Web sites for information practice

disclosures. Such disclosures might be found in a “Privacy Policy Notice,” defined as a

comprehensive description of a site’s information practices that is located in one place on the site

and may be reached by clicking on an icon or hyperlink. Disclosures might also take the form of a

discrete “Information Practice Statement,” defined as a statement that describes a particular use

or practice regarding consumers’ personal information, or regarding a choice offered to

consumers about their personal information, that might appear in diverse locations on the site. 

Examples of such disclosures include statements such as the following:

C We keep all the information you provide us confidential.

C We will only use the information you provide us to process your order.

C We [will, sometimes, never] share your information with third parties.

Staff also counted as an Information Practice Statement any disclosure that did not explicitly

state how the personal information collected might be used, but nevertheless arguably raised an

inference of at least one potential use. Statements such as “Click here to be on our mailing list”

were, therefore, included as Information Practice Statements. Sites in the Children’s Sample were

analyzed to determine the nature of information collected from children and the extent of notice

and/or choice offered to parents. Copies of the survey instructions and survey forms are included
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

21

in Appendices B and C, respectively. The survey results are set forth in the survey forms included

in Appendix C and in the tables included in Appendix D.

B. GENERAL SURVEY FINDINGS

This section of the report describes the survey results for all sites other than those directed

to children. It describes the types of companies whose sites are in each of the four random

samples and in the sample of the most popular sites on the Web; the types of personal information

collected by these sites; and the frequency and nature of information practice disclosures within

each of these samples.

1. WEB SITES

The Comprehensive Sample (Sample A) includes 674 Web sites, and the types of companies

included range broadly across the entire spectrum of the American economy. Bookstores, travel

agencies and hardware stores, radio and television stations, manufacturers of foods and home

health care products, clothing and sports equipment retailers, computer and software developers,

online newspapers and magazines, auto dealerships and law firms, and sellers of all manner of

other consumer goods and services are included in the Comprehensive Sample. Approximately

37% of the sites in the Comprehensive Sample are operated by small companies (annual sales less

than $500,000.00), 40% by medium-sized companies (annual sales exceeding $500,000.00 but

less than $10 million), and 20% by large companies (annual sales exceeding $10 million).101

The Health, Retail, and Financial Samples (Samples B, C, and D, respectively) are random

samples of over 100 sites drawn from industry sectors in which consumers may have heightened

concerns for privacy due to the types of personal information such Web sites are likely to collect: 

health-related sites may collect sensitive medical information; retail sites often collect credit card

numbers; and sites offering financial services often collect account and asset-related information. 

The Health Sample (Sample B) includes 137 sites operated by drug manufacturers, doctor’s

offices, hospitals, outpatient clinics, health maintenance organizations, manufacturers and retailers

of health care products and non-prescription drugs, sellers of nutritional supplements, weight loss
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

22

centers, substance abuse treatment centers, and health information and referral services. Small,

medium, and large businesses are nearly equally represented in the Health Sample (32% small;

35% medium-sized; and 31% large).102 

The Retail and Financial Samples (Samples C and D) are similarly diverse. The range of

consumer goods and services sold by the companies represented in the Retail Sample (Sample C)

mirrors the variety found in the Comprehensive Sample. Sellers of photographic equipment,

automobiles, cigars, jewelry, clothing, computers and software, fine art, collectibles, books,

housewares and sheet music are represented, as are magazines, restaurants, sporting goods stores,

and pharmacies. Forty percent of the 142 companies in the Retail Sample are small, 37%

medium-sized, and 21% large.103 The Financial Sample (Sample D) includes 125 sites operated by

banks, credit unions, mortgage companies, real estate agencies, security and stock brokerages,

investment and asset management firms, venture capital firms, investment counselors, stock

exchanges, student loan services, and investment newsletters. Eighteen percent of the sites in the

Financial Sample are associated with small companies, 41% with medium-sized companies, and

39% with large companies.104

The Most Popular Sample (Sample F) includes 111 of the most popular sites on the Web. 

Companies represented in this sample include search engines, Internet service providers,

electronic mail services, software and computer companies, news and information companies,

online directories, entertainment companies, and retailers of consumer goods.105

2. PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTION

As noted above, in the three years since the Commission’s first workshop on online privacy

issues, there has been substantial survey research indicating that consumers are concerned that

commercial Web sites are collecting a great quantity of personal information online and that this

practice might infringe on consumers’ privacy.106 The Commission’s own survey findings

demonstrate that, indeed, a significant amount of personal information is being collected from

online consumers. 
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

23

As the findings on information collection are consistent across all four random samples and

the Most Popular Sample, they are discussed together here. Almost all of the sites in these

samples — between 87% and 97% — collect at least one type of personal information from

online consumers.107 The vast majority of sites in all samples collect several types of personal

information. Figure 1 shows the percent of sites in the Comprehensive Sample that collect

personal information; Figure 1A provides this information for all of the random samples and the

Most Popular Sample.

March 1998

Collect

92%

Do Not 

Collect

8%

Base: All Web Sites in Comprehensive Sample (674) 

Figure 1

Percent of Web Sites Collecting Personal Information

Comprehensive Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

24

These Web sites collect a remarkable variety of personal information, including name, e-mail

address,108 postal address, telephone number, fax number, credit card number, Social Security

number, age or date of birth, gender, education, occupation, income, hobbies, interests, and the

type of hardware or software used by the online consumer. Figure 2 shows the percent of sites in

the Comprehensive Sample that collect each type of personal information.109

March 1998

92%

88%

97%

87%

97%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Comprehensive

(674 Sites) 

 Health 

(137 Sites)

 Retail 

(142 Sites)

 Financial 

(125 Sites)

Most Popular 

(111 Sites)

Figure 1A

Percent of Web Sites Collecting Personal Information,

By Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

25

The number of sites in each sample that collect personal identifying information, such as

name, e-mail or postal address, credit card number or Social Security number, is also worthy of

note.110 All of the sites in the Health, Retail, and Most Popular Samples that collect personal

information, and all but one of such sites in each of the Comprehensive and Financial Samples,

collect at least one item of personal identifying information.111 All of these sites, therefore, are

capable of creating personal profiles of online consumers by tying any demographic or interest

information they collect to personal identifying information.112

 March 1998

4%

2%

0%

5%

6%

2%

5%

3%

26%

54%

68%

98%

58%

19%

8%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Hardware/Software

Interests

Hobbies

Income

Occupation

Education

Gender

Age/Birthdate

SSN

Credit Card #

Fax #

Phone #

Postal Address

E-Mail Address

Name

Base: Web sites in Comprehensive Sample that collect personal information (621) 

Figure 2

Types of Personal Information Collected

Comprehensive Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

26

Indeed, many of the sites that collect a consumer’s name or e-mail address also collect other

types of information about the consumer. For example, of those sites in the Comprehensive

Sample that collect a consumer’s name and/or e-mail address, 14% collect five or more additional

types of personal information, 48% collect three or more additional types of personal information,

and 66% collect at least one other type of personal information. The numbers in the Most

Popular Sample are significantly higher. Of those sites in the Most Popular Sample that collect a

consumer’s name and/or e-mail address, 48% collect five or more additional types of personal

information, 74% collect three or more additional types of personal information, and 90% collect

at least one additional type of personal information.113

March 1998

66%

57%

76%

73%

90%

48%

36%

60%

53%

74%

14%

12%

19%

26%

48%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Comprehensive

(620 Sites)

 Health 

(120 Sites)

 Retail 

(123 Sites) 

 Financial 

(120 Sites)

 Most Popular 

(108 Sites)

1or More Types 3 or More Types 5 or More Types

Figure 3

Of those Web Sites that Collect Name and/or

E-Mail Address, Percent that Collect One or More

Additional Type(s) of Personal Information,

By Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

27

3. FREQUENCY OF DISCLOSURES

a. Random Samples

In contrast to the number of sites that collect personal information, the number of sites in

the random samples that have any type of information practice disclosure, i.e., either a Privacy

Policy Notice or an Information Practice Statement, is extremely low. This result is consistent

across all four of these samples. Only 14% of all sites in the Comprehensive Sample, 14% of all

sites in the Health Sample, 13% of all sites in the Retail Sample, and 16% of all sites in the

Financial Sample post any disclosure.114

Among sites in the random

samples that collect personal

information, the disclosure rate is

equally low. Of these sites, only

15% in the Comprehensive

Sample, 16% in the Health

Sample, 15% in the Retail Sample,

and 17% in the Financial Sample

have any information practice

disclosure.115 Only 2% of the sites

that collect personal information in

each of these samples have a

Privacy Policy Notice.116 Of sites

that collect personal information, 14% in the Comprehensive Sample, 16% in the Health Sample,

13% in the Retail Sample, and 15% in the Financial Sample have at least one Information Practice

Statement.117

March 1998

No 

Disclosure

86%

Disclosure

14%

Base: All Web sites in Comprehensive Sample (674)

Figure 4

Percent of Web Sites with an Information Practice Disclosure

Comprehensive Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

28

b. Most Popular Sample

The disclosure rate is much higher in the Most Popular Sample (Sample F). Seventy-one

percent of all sites have some type of information practice disclosure (either a Privacy Policy

Notice or an Information Practice Statement),118 and 73% of sites that collect personal

information have such a disclosure.119 Of the sites in this sample that collect personal information,

44% have a Privacy Policy Notice,120 and 61% have at least one Information Practice

Statement.121 The higher disclosure rate for the Most Popular Sample demonstrates that

providing notice to consumers is feasible. The higher disclosure rate may be attributable not only

to these companies’ awareness of online privacy issues, but also to the fact that, of all the sites

surveyed for this report, only companies in this sample were on notice that their sites would all be

March 1998

71%

14% 14% 13% 16%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Comprehensive

(674 Sites)

 Health 

(137 Sites)

 Retail 

(142 Sites)

 Financial 

(125 Sites)

Most Popular

(111 Sites)

Figure 4A

Percent of Web Sites with an Information Practice Disclosure,

By Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

29

included in the survey, as a result of both press reports and public statements by Commission

staff.122 However, despite this clear public notice, over one-quarter of these sites still failed to

post an information practice disclosure.

4. NATURE OF DISCLOSURES

a. Random Samples

As noted above, the disclosure rate for the Comprehensive, Health, Retail, and Financial

Samples is very low, ranging between 13% and 16% of all sites. The following discussion of the

substance of those disclosures pertains only to those sites in each sample that both collect

personal information and have at least one information practice disclosure: 94 sites in the

Comprehensive Sample; 19 sites in the Health Sample; 18 sites in the Retail Sample; and 20 sites

March 1998

2% 2% 2% 2%

44%

61%

14% 16% 13% 15%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Comprehensive

(621 Sites)

 Health 

(120 Sites)

 Retail 

(123 Sites)

 Financial 

(121 Sites)

Most Popular

(108 Sites)

Privacy Policy Notice Information Practice Statement

Figure 5

Of those Web Sites that Collect Personal Information,

Percent with a Privacy Policy Notice or

an Information Practice Statement, By Sample
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

30

in the Financial Sample.123 The small sample size makes it difficult to draw conclusions regarding

the nature of disclosures and, therefore, the analysis should be read with the small number of

relevant sites in mind.124

Roughly one-third of the sites in each of these samples that have at least one information

practice disclosure state that they give consumers choice about how the personal information they

collect will be used.125 The percent of sites offering consumers access to their personal

information and/or an opportunity to correct any inaccuracies in that information is much lower,

ranging from 0% in the Health and Financial Samples to 17% (or 3 sites) in the Retail Sample.126

The percent of sites that state that they take steps to provide security for the personal information

collected after they receive it ranges from 0% in the Health Sample to 15% (or 14 sites) in the

Comprehensive Sample.127

Staff also gathered data regarding the number of sites whose disclosures address the issue of

the potential transfer of personal information to third parties. The percent of sites stating that

none of the personal information they collect will be disclosed to third parties ranges from 20%

(or 4 sites) in the Financial Sample to 33% (or 31 sites) in the Comprehensive Sample.128

Twenty-six percent (or 5 sites) of the sites with some information practice disclosure in the Health

Sample, 33% (or 6 sites) in the Retail Sample, 36% (or 34 sites) in the Comprehensive Sample,

and 40% (or 8 sites) in the Financial Sample state that at least some of the personal information

collected may be released to third parties.129 Only a single site that collects personal information

in the Comprehensive Sample — and none of the sites in the other random samples — states that

it provides choice, access, and security and addresses the issue of third-party disclosures.130

b. Most Popular Sample

The disclosure rate for the most frequently trafficked sites on the Web is, as noted above,

significantly higher than the rates for the four random samples. Of the sites in this sample that

both collect personal information and have at least one information practice disclosure, 68% (or

54 sites) state that they give consumers choice about how the personal information collected will

be used,131 38% (or 30 sites) state that they provide consumers access to their personal

information and/or an opportunity to correct any inaccuracies in that information,132 and 16% (or
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

31

13 sites) state that they take steps to provide security for the personal information collected after

they receive it.133

 Fourteen percent (or 11 sites) of the sites in this sample that collect personal information

and have an information practice disclosure say that none of the personal information they collect

will be disclosed to third parties.134 Seventy-eight percent (or 62 sites) of these sites state that at

least some of the personal information collected may be released to third parties.135 Six percent

(or 5 sites) of these sites say that they provide consumers choice, access, and security, and

address the issue of third-party disclosures.136

C. CHILDREN’S SURVEY FINDINGS

1. PERSONAL INFORMATION COLLECTION FROM CHILDREN

Commission staff surveyed Web

sites in this Sample to ascertain whether

they collect personal information from

children online, and, if so, to identify the

types of information they collect. Staff

found that 89% of the 212 sites collect

one or more types of personal

information from children (a rate

comparable to all of the other

samples)137 and that 88% collect at least

one type of personal identifying

information as well.138 Personal

information collected from children

includes a wide array of identifying information such as name, e-mail address,139 postal address,

March 1998

Collect

89%

Do Not 

Collect

11%

Base: All Web sites in Children's Sample (212) 

Figure 6

Percent of Web Sites Collecting Personal

Information from Children
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

32

 telephone number, and Social Security number, as well as other personal information like age or

date of birth, gender, education, interests, and hobbies.140

Often the sites that collect personal identifying information also collect several other types

of information, enabling them to form a detailed profile of a child. In fact, of the sites that collect

a child’s name and/or e-mail address, 21% collect five or more additional types of personal

information, 48% collect three or more additional types of personal information, and 77% collect

one or more additional types of personal information from children.141

March 1998

13%

3%

3%

25%

46%

1%

0%

6%

24%

74%

96%

18%

9%

49%

7%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Hardware/Software

Interests

Hobbies

Income

Occupation

Education

Gender

Age/Birthdate

SSN

Credit Card #

Fax #

Phone #

Postal Address

E-Mail Address

Name

Base: Web sites in Children's Sample that collect personal information (188) 

Figure 7

Types of Personal Information Collected from Children
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

33

Web sites use a variety of techniques to solicit personal information from children. For

example, some sites require children to answer questions about their interests in order to register

or to become eligible to win prizes.142 In other cases a site may use “imaginary” characters to

request information from children, have children sign a “guest book,” solicit information to create

home pages for children, invite children to participate in chat and electronic pen pal programs,

require children to register with the site for updates and information, and offer prizes and other

incentives for completing surveys and polls. Some sites use detailed questionnaires, soliciting

information about children’s age, gender, geographic location, and even personal finances.143

March 1998

77%

48%

21%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1or More Types 3 or More Types 5 or More Types

Base: Web sites in Children's Sample that collect name and/or e-mail address from children (186)

Figure 8

Of those Web Sites that Collect Name and/or E-Mail Address,

Percent that Collect One or More Additional

Type(s) of Personal Information from Children
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

34

While it was not possible to determine all the purposes for which personal information

collected from children is used, many uses were apparent simply from visiting sites. Surfers

found, for example, that some sites collect e-mail addresses to send children newsletters and

notices about online contests and chances to win prizes on the site. Other sites collect personal

information from children to notify them of contest results and to ask children for feedback about

the site.

2. FREQUENCY OF DISCLOSURES

The percentage of children’s sites

providing some degree of disclosure

about their collection and use of

information was significantly higher than

that for all samples other than the Most

Popular Sample.144 Fifty-four percent of

all sites in the Children’s Sample have

some kind of information practice

disclosure, either a comprehensive

Privacy Policy Notice or at least one

Information Practice Statement, or

both.145

As noted above with respect to the general samples, staff applied a very broad definition of

what constitutes an Information Practice Statement. Any statement that describes a particular use

or practice regarding consumers’ personal information and/or a choice offered to consumers

about their personal information was considered an Information Practice Statement. Examples

from the Children’s Sample include statements such as:

C Kids, get your parents’ permission before you give out information online;

C We reserve the right to do whatever we want with the information we collect, and

March 1998

No 

Disclosure

46%

Disclosure

54%

 Base: All Web sites in Children's Sample (212) 

Figure 9

Percent of Children’s Web Sites

with an Information Practice Disclosure
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

35

C Click here if you want to be on our mailing list.

Of sites that collect personal information from children, 50% have at least one Information

Practice Statement.146

Although a majority of children’s sites have some statement about one or more of their

information practice(s), the number of children’s sites that have a Privacy Policy Notice is much

lower. Twenty-four percent of the sites that collect personal information from children post a

Privacy Policy Notice.147

3. NATURE OF DISCLOSURES 

The following discussion of the nature of disclosures by sites in the Children’s Sample 

applies only to those sites that both collect personal information from children and have at least

one information practice disclosure (109 sites). Thirty-nine percent (or 43 sites) of these sites say

March 1998

24%

50%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Privacy Policy Notice Information Practice Statement

Base: Web sites in Children's Sample that collect 

personal information (188)

Figure 10

Of those Web Sites that Collect Personal Information from Children,

Percent with a Privacy Policy Notice or an Information Practice Statement
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

36

that they provide children or their parents with choices about how their personal information will

be used.148 Only 12% (or 13 sites) of these sites say that they offer access to this personal

information or an opportunity to correct inaccuracies.149 The percentage of sites that state they

take steps to provide security for personal information after they receive it is lower still — 8% (or

9 sites).150 Only 12% (or 13 sites) say they will notify parents of their information practices. Of

the sites that collect personal information from children and have at least one information practice

disclosure, no site’s information practice disclosure discusses the full range of fair information

practice principles — choice, access, security and parental notice.

The survey also shows that numerous sites disclose children’s personal information to third

parties. There are two ways that sites disclose personal information to third parties: (1) sites may

display children’s personal information in areas accessible to anyone online; or (2) sites may sell

or rent children’s personal information to others. In either case, the release of children’s personal

March 1998

39%

12% 8% 12%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Choice Access Security Notify Parents

Base: Web sites in Children's Sample that collect personal information

from children and have an Information Practice Disclosure (109) 

Figure 11

Of those Sites that Collect Personal Information from Children

and Have an Information Practice Disclosure, 

Percent that Offer Choice, Access, Security and/or Notify

Parents of Information Practices
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

37

identifying information to third parties is of concern, because it creates a risk of injury to or

exploitation of children so identified. As described earlier, 97% of parents are concerned about

whether their children’s personal information is shared with third parties.151 Despite parents’

concern, staff found sites, for example, that display color photographs of young children with

their full names and ages, as well as sites that facilitate public disclosure of children’s e-mail

addresses in bulletin boards, chat rooms, “art galleries,” and on children’s home pages. 

Of those sites that collect personal information from children and have an information

practice disclosure, 82% have some kind of disclosure stating whether or not children’s

information will be publicly posted or otherwise shared with third parties.152 Only 33% have an 

information practice disclosure stating that none of the information will be released to third

parties.153 Forty-nine percent say that the information may be released to third parties.154

4. PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The role of parents in protecting their children’s privacy is fundamental to the

implementation of the fair information practice principles described in this report, and is the

principle touchstone of both the staff opinion letter and the CARU guidelines. The survey

percentages were low with regard to parental control over the collection and use of information. 

Only 23% (or 48 sites) of all the sites in the Children’s Sample take the first step of telling

children to ask their parents for permission before providing information to the site.155 Less than

8% of the sites say they notify parents of their information practices.156 Only 1% (or 3 sites)

require parental consent to the collection and use of information before the information is

collected or used (opt-in)157 and only 8% (or 17 sites) say that parents can ask that personal

information collected from children be deleted or not used in the future (opt-out).158
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

38

The results reveal a very low level of compliance with the basic parental control principles

contained in the staff opinion letter and the CARU guidelines more than seven months after these

documents were released. First, the results demonstrate that a significant percentage of sites

continue to collect a vast array of personal information from children, in sharp contrast to parents’

preferences.159 Second, despite the fact that Commission staff publicly disclosed that the

Children’s Sample would be selected from sites listed in the Yahooligans! Directory, nearly half of

the sample failed to post any kind of information practice disclosure. Finally, very few sites tell

children to ask their parents for permission before providing personal information, and fewer still

notify parents of their information practices or appear to take any steps to involve parents.

March 1998

1%

7% 8%

23%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Sites Tell Children to

Ask Parents

Sites Say They Will

Notify Parents

Sites Say They Offer

Parental Opt-Out

Sites Say They Offer

Parental Opt-In

Base: All Web sites in Children's Sample (212) 

Figure 12

Percent of Web Sites with Disclosures

Regarding Parental Involvement
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

39

VI.CONCLUSIONS

C A medical clinic’s online doctor-referral service invites consumers to submit their

name, postal address, e-mail address, insurance company, any comments concerning

their medical problems, and to indicate whether they wish to receive information on

any of a number of topics, including urinary incontinence, hypertension, cholesterol,

prostate cancer, and diabetes. The online application for the clinic’s health education

membership program asks consumers to submit their name, address, telephone

number, date of birth, marital status, gender, insurance company, and the date and

location of their last hospitalization. The clinic’s Web site says nothing about how the

information consumers provide will be used or whether it will be made available to

third parties.

C An automobile dealership’s Web site offers help to consumers in rebuilding their credit

ratings. To take advantage of this offer, consumers are urged to provide their name,

address, Social Security number, and telephone number through the Web site’s online

information form. The Web site says nothing about how the information provided will

be used or whether it will be made available to third parties.

C A mortgage company operates an online prequalification service for home loans. The

online application form requires that each potential borrower provide his or her name,

Social Security number, home and business telephone numbers, e-mail address,

previous address, type of loan sought, current and former employer’s name and

address, length of employment, income, sources of funds to be applied toward closing,

and approximate total in savings. The online form also requires the borrower to

provide information about his or her credit history, including credit card, car loans,

child support and other indebtedness, and to state whether he or she has ever filed for

bankruptcy. The application form requires the borrower to agree that the mortgage

company may disclose his or her “credit experiences” to third parties, but the Web site

says nothing else about how the mortgage company might use all of the information

provided or whether that information will be made available to third parties.

C A child-directed site collects personal information, such as a child’s full name, postal

address, e-mail address, gender, and age. The Web site also asks a child extensive

personal finance questions, such as whether a child has received gifts in the form of

stocks, cash, savings bonds, mutual funds, or certificates of deposit; who has given a

child these gifts; whether a child puts monetary gifts into mutual funds, stocks or

bonds; and whether a child’s parents own mutual funds. Elsewhere on the Web site,

contest winners’ full names, age, city, state, and zip code are posted. The Web site

does not tell children to ask their parents for permission before providing personal
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

40

information and does not appear to take any steps to involve parents. Further, the

Web site says nothing about whether the information is disclosed to third parties.

C Another child-directed site collects personal information to register for a chat room,

including a child’s full name, e-mail address, city, state, gender, age, and hobbies. The

Web site has a lotto contest that asks for a child’s full name and e-mail address. Lotto

contest winners’ full names are posted on the site. For children who wish to find an

electronic pen pal, the site offers a bulletin board service that posts messages,

including children’s e-mail addresses. While the Web site says it asks children to post

messages if they are looking for a pen pal, in fact, anyone of any age can visit this

bulletin board and contact a child directly. The site also has an area where children

can submit stories online. The Web site posts the stories along with children’s full

names, ages, and e-mail addresses. The Web site does not tell children to ask their

parents for permission before providing personal information and does not say that it

takes steps to involve parents. The Web site says nothing about whether the

information is disclosed to third parties. 

* * *

The practices of these Web sites demonstrate the real need for implementing the basic fair

information practices described in this report. The World Wide Web provides a host of

opportunities for businesses to gather a vast array of personal information from and about

consumers, including children. The online environment and the advent of the computer age also

provide unprecedented opportunities for the compilation, analysis, and dissemination of such

information. While American businesses have always collected some information from consumers

in order to facilitate transactions, the Internet allows for the efficient, inexpensive collection of a

vast amount of information. It is the prevalence, ease, and relative low cost of such information

collection that distinguishes the online environment from more traditional means of commerce and

information collection and thus raises consumer concerns. 

The federal government currently has limited authority over the collection and dissemination

of personal data collected online.160 The Federal Trade Commission Act (the “FTC Act” or

“Act”)

161 prohibits unfair and deceptive practices in and affecting commerce. The Act authorizes

the Commission to seek injunctive and other equitable relief, including redress, for violations of
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

41

the Act, and provides a basis for government enforcement of certain fair information practices. 

For instance, failure to comply with stated information practices may constitute a deceptive

practice in certain circumstances, and the Commission would have authority to pursue the

remedies available under the Act for such violations. Furthermore, in certain circumstances,

information practices may be inherently deceptive or unfair, regardless of whether the entity has

publicly adopted any fair information practice policies. As discussed above, Commission staff has

issued an opinion letter addressing the possible unfairness inherent in collecting certain personal

identifying information from children online and transferring it to third parties without obtaining

prior parental consent.162 However, as a general matter, the Commission lacks authority to

require firms to adopt information practice policies. 

The Commission has encouraged industry to address consumer concerns regarding online

privacy through self-regulation. The Internet is a rapidly changing marketplace. Effective selfregulation remains desirable because it allows firms to respond quickly to technological changes

and employ new technologies to protect consumer privacy. Accordingly, a private-sector

response to consumer concerns that incorporates widely-accepted fair information practices and

provides for effective enforcement mechanisms could afford consumers adequate privacy

protection. To date, however, the Commission has not seen an effective self-regulatory system

emerge. 

As evidenced by the Commission’s survey results, and despite the Commission’s three-year

privacy initiative supporting a self-regulatory response to consumers’ privacy concerns, the vast

majority of online businesses have yet to adopt even the most fundamental fair information

practice (notice/awareness). Moreover, the trade association guidelines submitted to the

Commission do not reflect industry acceptance of the basic fair information practice principles. In

addition, the guidelines, with limited exception, contain none of the enforcement mechanisms

needed for an effective self-regulatory regime. In light of the lack of notice regarding information

practices on the World Wide Web and the lack of current industry guidelines adequate to establish

an effective self-regulatory regime, the question is what additional incentives are required in order

to encourage effective self-regulatory efforts by industry. The Commission currently is 
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

42

considering this question in light of the survey results, monitoring self-regulation efforts since the

survey was completed, and assessing the utility and effectiveness of different courses of action. 

This summer, the Commission will make recommendations on actions it deems necessary to

protect online consumers generally.

In the specific area of children’s online privacy, however, the Commission now recommends

that Congress develop legislation placing parents in control of the online collection and use of

personal information from their children. Such legislation would set out the basic standards of

practice governing the online collection and use of information from children. All commercial

Web sites directed to children would be required to comply with these standards. 

In making this recommendation, the Commission has drawn on its extensive experience in

addressing business practices affecting children, as well as its three-year study of online privacy

issues. The Commission has already taken some steps, particularly the release of the staff opinion

letter, to address online information practices involving children that may violate Section 5 of the

Federal Trade Commission Act. Moreover, the Commission has recognized a growing consensus

reflected in consumer survey evidence and some industry self-regulatory guidelines that parental

involvement is necessary in the collection and use of information from children. Nonetheless,

Section 5 may only have application to some but not all of the practices that raise concern about

the online collection and use of information from children. The Commission does not believe, for

example, that Section 5 necessarily authorizes it to require parental notice and involvement across

the board for all commercial Web sites engaged in information collection from children. 

Accordingly, the Commission concludes that as a matter of policy additional steps should now be

taken to ensure adequate online privacy protections for children.

Children’s privacy legislation also would recognize that a marketer’s responsibilities vary

with the age of the child from whom personal information is sought. In a commercial context,

Congress and industry self-regulatory bodies traditionally have distinguished between children

aged 12 and under, who are particularly vulnerable to overreaching by marketers, and children

over the age of 12, for whom strong, but more flexible protections may be appropriate. In each 
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

43

case, the goal of legislative requirements should be to recognize the parents’ role with respect to

information collection from children.

Accordingly, the Commission recommends that Congress develop legislation to require

commercial Web sites that collect personal identifying information from children 12 and under to

provide actual notice to the parent and obtain parental consent as follows:

C Where the personal identifying information would enable someone to contact a child

offline, the company must obtain prior parental consent, regardless of the intended

use of the information (opt-in);

C Where the personal identifying information is publicly posted or disclosed to third

parties, the company must obtain prior parental consent (opt-in); 

C Where collection of an e-mail address is necessary for a child’s participation at a site,

such as to notify contest winners, the company must provide notice to parents and an

opportunity to remove the e-mail address from the site’s database (opt-out).

Where the personal identifying information is collected from children over 12, the

Commission recommends that:

C Web sites must provide parents with notice of the collection of such information and

an opportunity to remove the information from the site’s database (opt-out).163

The development of the online marketplace is at a critical juncture. If growing consumer

concerns about online privacy are not addressed, electronic commerce will not reach its full

potential. To date, industry has had only limited success in implementing fair information

practices and adopting self-regulatory regimes with respect to the online collection, use, and

dissemination of personal information. Accordingly, the Commission now recommends legislation

to protect children online and this summer will recommend an appropriate response to protect the

privacy of all online consumers.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

44
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

45

1. In July 1997 the Commission promised that it would submit this report in June 1998. 

Commission letter to Senator John McCain, Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science and

Transportation, United States Senate (July 31, 1997); Commission Letter to Representative

Thomas Bliley, Chairman, Committee on Commerce, United States House of Representatives

(July 31, 1997) (hereinafter referred to as “McCain/Bliley letters”). The text of the McCain/Bliley

letters may be found on the Commission’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/os/9707/privac97.htm.

2. The Commission’s Public Workshop on Consumer Information Privacy (“1997 Workshop”),

June 10-13, 1997, also explored the privacy issues raised by computerized databases that contain

consumers’ personal identifying information (also known as “individual reference services” or

“look-up” services), as well as issues relating to unsolicited commercial e-mail. The workshop

transcript may be found on the Commission’s Web site at

http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/privacy/wkshp97/index.html.

3. These Commission efforts have served as a foundation for dialogue among members of the

information industry and online business community, government representatives, privacy and

consumer advocates, and experts in interactive technology. The Commission and its staff have

also issued reports describing various consumer privacy concerns in the electronic marketplace. 

E.g., FTC Report to Congress: Individual Reference Services, December 1997, available on the

Commission’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/privacy/wkshp97/index.html [hereinafter “FTC

Report to Congress/Reference Services”]; FTC Staff Report: Public Workshop on Consumer

Privacy on the Global Information Infrastructure, December 1996, available at

http://www.ftc.gov/reports/privacy/privacy1.htm [hereinafter “FTC Staff Report”]; FTC Staff

Report: Anticipating the 21st Century: Consumer Protection Policy in the New High-Tech,

Global Marketplace, May 1996, available at http://www.ftc.gov/opp/global.htm. In addition, the

Commission presented testimony on the Implications of Emerging Electronic Payment Systems on

Individual Privacy on September 18, 1997 before the House Subcommittee on Financial

Institutions and Consumer Credit, Committee on Banking and Financial Services (available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/9709/elecpay.tes.htm); and on Internet Privacy on March 26, 1998 before

the House Subcommittee on Courts and Intellectual Property, Committee on the Judiciary

(available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/9803/privacy.htm).

4. “Cookie” technology allows a Web site’s server to place information about a consumer’s visits

to the site on the consumer’s computer in a text file that only the Web site’s server can read. 

Using cookies a Web site assigns each consumer a unique identifier (not the actual identity of the

consumer), so that the consumer may be recognized in subsequent visits to the site. On each

return visit, the site can call up user-specific information, which could include the consumer’s

preferences or interests, as indicated by documents the consumer accessed in prior visits or items

ENDNOTES
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

46

the consumer clicked on while in the site. Web sites can also collect information about consumers

through hidden electronic navigational software that captures information about site visits,

including Web pages visited and information downloaded, the types of browser used, and the

referring Web sites’ Internet addresses. Staff did not ascertain whether sites in the Commission’s

online survey use cookies, or other hidden electronic means, to collect personal information, but

looked instead to sites’ information practice disclosures to reveal such practices. See infra

Section V.A and Appendix A.

5. CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research, CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Demographic and

Electronic Commerce Study, Spring ‘97 (March 12, 1997) (defining adults as individuals over 16

years old), available at http://www.commerce.net/work/pilot/nielsen_96/press_97.html

[hereinafter CommerceNet/Nielsen Demographic Study, Spring ‘97]; IntelliQuest

Communications, Inc., Worldwide Internet/Online Tracking Service (WWITS TM): Second Quarter

1997 Study (Sept. 4, 1997), available at http://www.intelliquest.com/about/release32.htm.

6. CommerceNet/Nielsen Demographic Study, Spring ‘97.

7. CommerceNet and Nielsen Media Research, CommerceNet/Nielsen Media Demographic and

Electronic Commerce Study, Fall ‘97 (December 11, 1997), available at

http://www.commerce.net/news/press/121197.html [hereafter CommerceNet/Nielsen

Demographic Study, Fall ‘97]. See also Yankelovich Partners, 1997 Cybercitizen Report (Mar.

27, 1997) (finding that 23% of users ordered and paid for a product over the Internet, i.e.,

“transacted” business online), available at http://www.yankelovich.com/pr/970327.htm.

8. Jupiter Communications, 1998 Online Advertising Report (Aug. 22, 1997) (figure includes

directory listings and classified advertisements), available at

http://www.jup.com/digest/082297/advert.shtml.

9. Louis Harris & Associates and Dr. Alan F. Westin, Commerce, Communication, and Privacy

Online, A National Survey of Computer Users (1997) (hereinafter referred to as “Westin Survey”)

at ix.

The Commission recognizes that the widespread availability of consumers’ personal

information, and the privacy concerns raised thereby, are not unique to the Internet. The

Commission has focussed on online privacy for several reasons. First, interactive media make it

possible to collect, store, aggregate, and disseminate personal information with speed and

efficiency that are unmatched in other contexts. Second, the fact that the online marketplace is in

its infancy makes it possible to address online privacy issues prospectively. Finally, and most

important, consumers’ concerns about their privacy are significantly heightened in the online

environment.

10. Id. at 20-21.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

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11. Business Week/Harris Poll: Online Insecurity, Business Week, March 16, 1998, at 102.

12. Privacy & American Business Report, Vol. 4, No. 3 (1997) (reporting on Louis Harris

Associates and Alan F. Westin’s National Survey of Computer Users).

13. As the Commission’s expertise and regulatory authority relate to commercial activities, its

review of children’s online privacy issues has focused on the information practices of commercial

Web sites. The collection of information from and about children by non-commercial sites such as

those operated by non-profit and educational entities, however, raises similar privacy concerns. 

14. Interactive Consumers Research Report, Vol. 4, No. 5 at 1, 4, May 1997 (discussing results

of FIND/SVP’s 1997 American Internet User Survey).

15. Id. at 3. The Find/SVP’s survey regarding children’s online activities reports that

approximately 57% of households with online children use the Internet for homework and schoolrelated research (64% with children ages 8 to 11); 51% use it for entertainment or games (78%

with children ages 8 to 11); 45% use it for surfing or browsing (60% with children ages 8 to 11);

37% use it for e-mail and chat (35% with children ages 8 to 11); and 43% use it for informal

learning (59% with children ages 8 to 11).

16. Id. at 1, 2. The number of children online increased nearly five-fold from fall 1995 to spring

1997. Id. at 1.

17. One source has estimated that, in 1997, children aged 4 through 12 spent $24.4 billion

themselves; and children aged 2 through 14 may have directly influenced spending by their parents

in an amount as much as $188 billion. James U. McNeal, Tapping the Three Kids’ Markets,

American Demographics, Apr. 1998, at 38, 40.

18. According to one source, most children’s Web sites are targeting children ages 8 to 11. Teens

tend to visit the same sites that adults visit. Robin Raskin, What do Kids Want?, Family PC

Magazine, May 1998, at 17. 

19. The types of personal information include personal identifying information, such as name,

e-mail address, phone number, and home address, as well as other personal information such as

the child’s age, gender, hobbies, interests, favorite foods, games, movies, books, and animated

characters. See infra Section V. C. 1. 

20. See FTC Staff Report, Appendix E.

21. The “Innocent Images” program focuses on individuals who go online to meet children for the

purpose of engaging in sexual activity or who produce and/or distribute child pornography online. 

See 1997 Workshop, Transcript at 229 (testimony of FBI agent Linda Hooper). See also

Testimony of Louis J. Freeh, Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation, before the Senate
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

48

Appropriations Subcommittee for the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the

Judiciary, and Related Agencies, March 10, 1998, available at 

http://www.fbi.gov/congress/internet/sac310.htm; and Testimony of Stephen R. Wiley, Chief, FBI

Violent Crime and Major Offenders Section, before the House Subcommittee on Crime,

Committee on the Judiciary, November 7, 1997, available at

http://www.fbi.gov/congress/children/children.htm.

22. 1997 Workshop, Transcript at 192-93 (testimony of Charlotte Baecher of Consumers Union).

23. Id. at 36-37.

24. Id.

25. Id.

26. Id. at 156 (testimony of Alan Westin). 

27. Fair information practice principles were first articulated in a comprehensive manner in the

United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare’s seminal 1973 report entitled

Records, Computers and the Rights of Citizens (1973) [hereinafter “HEW Report”]. In the

twenty-five years that have elapsed since the HEW Report, a canon of fair information practice

principles has been developed by a variety of governmental and inter-governmental agencies. In

addition to the HEW Report, the major reports setting forth the core fair information practice

principles are: The Privacy Protection Study Commission, Personal Privacy in an Information

Society (1977) [hereinafter “Privacy Protection Study”]; Organization for Economic Cooperation

and Development, OECD Guidelines on the Protection of Privacy and Transborder Flows of

Personal Data (1980) [hereinafter “OECD Guidelines”]; Information Infrastructure Task Force,

Information Policy Committee, Privacy Working Group, Privacy and the National Information

Infrastructure: Principles for Providing and Using Personal Information (1995) [hereinafter

“IITF Report”]; U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Privacy and the NII: Safeguarding

Telecommunications-Related Personal Information (1995) [hereinafter “Commerce Report”];

The European Union Directive on the Protection of Personal Data (1995) [hereinafter “EU

Directive”]; and the Canadian Standards Association, Model Code for the Protection of Personal

Information: A National Standard of Canada (1996) [hereinafter “CSA Model Code”]. Other

sources relied upon herein include the FTC Staff Report and FTC Report to Congress/Reference

Services.

28. Such principles can be either procedural or substantive. Procedural principles address how

personal information is collected and used by governing the methods by which data collectors and

data providers interact. These principles ensure that consumers have notice of, and consent to, an

entity’s information practices. Substantive principles, by contrast, impose substantive limitations

on the collection and use of personal information, regardless of consumer consent, by requiring
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

49

that only certain information be collected and that such information only be used in certain ways. 

Most of the principles discussed below are procedural in nature. One substantive principle widely

adopted by the fair information practice codes, but not discussed below, is the collection

limitation principle, which states that entities should only collect personal information necessary

for a legitimate business purpose. See Privacy Protection Study at 513-15; IITF Report § II.A;

CSA Model Code ¶ 4.4.

29. See, e.g., OECD Guidelines, Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 52; see also FTC Staff Report at 9.

30. While notice of a Web site’s policies with respect to data integrity and security is critical to

making an informed decision to reveal personal data, such notice is not a prerequisite to the

implementation of security measures. The implementation of security measures lies solely in the

hands of the entity collecting the information and requires no active participation from the

consumer. Implementation of the principles of choice and access, by contrast, require consumer

involvement and, therefore, are dependent on notice to be meaningful.

31. OECD Guidelines, Openness Principle & ¶ 12; FTC Staff Report at 9-10; EU Directive art.

10; CSA Model Code ¶ 4.8.2.

32. HEW Report at 62; Privacy Protection Study at 514; OECD Guidelines, Purpose

Specification Principle & ¶ 9; IITF Report § II.B.; Commerce Report at 21; EU Directive art. 10;

CSA Model Code ¶ 4.2; FTC Staff Report at 9-10. The corollary to identifying the purposes for

data collection is that the data not be used for other purposes without the data subject’s consent. 

See HEW Report at 61-62; OECD Guidelines, Use Limitation Principle & ¶ 10 and Explanatory

Memorandum ¶ 55; IITF Report § II.D; EU Directive arts. 6-7; CSA Model Code ¶ 4.5.

33. EU Directive art. 10.

34. Commerce Report at 21.

35. HEW Report at 59; IITF Report § II.B; EU Directive art. 10. Several of the fair information

practice codes recognize that a consumer’s refusal to allow the further unrelated use of his or her

personal information, beyond that which is necessary to complete the transaction at issue, should

not form the basis for the denial of access to the good or service in question. See, e.g.,

Commerce Report at 25; CSA Model Code ¶ 4.3.3.

36. Privacy Protection Study at 514; IITF Report § II.B. As noted in endnote 30, notice of this

type is not a prerequisite to insuring the confidentiality, integrity, and quality of data. However,

when dealing with data considered by consumers to be particularly sensitive, information about

the steps taken by the data collector is important to the consumer and may determine whether the

consumer is willing to provide such data.

37. See FTC Staff Report at 9-10.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

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38. HEW Report at 58; CSA Model Code ¶ 4.8.2; EU Directive art. 10. 

39. HEW Report at 58; EU Directive art. 10.

40. IITF Report § II.B.

41. Cf. CSA Model Code ¶ 4.8.2 (organizations should make available identity of individual

accountable for organization’s policies and to whom complaints can be forwarded).

42. Virtually every set of fair information practice principles includes consumer choice or consent

as an essential element. HEW Report at 41, 61; OECD Guidelines, Collection Limitation

Principle & ¶ 7 and Use Limitation Principle & ¶ 10; Commerce Report at 23-27; EU Directive

arts. 7, 14; CSA Model Code, ¶¶ 4.3, 4.5; see also FTC Report to Congress/Reference Services

at 22-23; FTC Staff Report at 10-11. 

43. As noted in the FTC Staff Report, commentators have taken different views of the efficacy

and wisdom of opt-in versus opt-out regimes. FTC Staff Report at 10-11; see also Commerce

Report at 24-27 (proposing opt-in regimes for “sensitive information” and opt-out regimes for

other information).

44. Indeed, technological innovations soon may allow consumers and collectors of information to

engage in “electronic negotiation” regarding the scope of information disclosure and use. Such

“negotiation” would be based on electronic matching of pre-programmed consumer preferences

with Web sites’ information practices. The World Wide Web Consortium (“W3C”) is currently in

the final stages of developing its Platform for Privacy Preferences Project (“P3P”), which will

allow implementation of such technology. Consumers may have access to P3P by early 1999. 

For general information on P3P, see the W3C’s Web site (http://www.w3.org/P3P).

45. A system requiring consumers to specify privacy preferences before visiting any Web sites can

be built into Internet browsers. See supra note 44 (discussing technological developments). The

absence of default rules, and the concomitant requirement that consumers decide how they want

their personal information used, help ensure that consumers in fact exercise choice.

46. See HEW Report at 41, 59, 63; Privacy Protection Study at 508-13; OECD Guidelines,

Individual Participation Principle & ¶ 13; IITF Report § III.B; EU Directive art. 12; CSA Model

Code ¶ 4.9; FTC Report to Congress/Reference Services at 21-22. See also Fair Credit Reporting

Act (“FCRA”) §§ 609-11, 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681g-1681i (providing for consumer access to, and the

right to correct inaccuracies in, consumer credit reports).

47. See HEW Report at 63; IITF Report § III.B; CSA Model Code ¶ 4.9; OECD Guidelines,

Individual Participation Principle & ¶ 13 and Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 61; EU Directive art.

12; see also FTC Report to Congress/Reference Services at 21-22; FCRA § 611, 15 U.S.C.

§ 1681i.
Privacy Online: A Report to Congress

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48. HEW Report at 56-57; Privacy Protection Study at 521; OECD Guidelines, Data Quality

Principle & ¶ 8 and Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 53; IITF Report § I.C; EU Directive art. 6; CSA

Model Code ¶¶ 4.5.3, 4.6; see also FCRA §§ 605, 607(b), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681c, 1681e(b).

49. OECD Guidelines, Security Safeguards Principle & ¶ 11 and Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 56;

IITF Report §§ I.B, II.C; EU Directive art. 17; CSA Model Code ¶ 4.7; FTC Staff Report at 12. 

Physical security measures, such as guards, alarms, etc., may also be necessary in certain

circumstances.

50. In implementing security measures, companies should be aware that security breaches directed

at stored data — i.e., information already received by the data collector — often constitute

greater threats to privacy than those breaches occurring during the transmission of sensitive data,

such as credit card numbers, over the Internet. See, e.g., Linda Punch, The Real Internet Security

Issue, Credit Card Management, Dec. 1997, at 65.

51. See HEW Report at 50 (calling for Code of Fair Information Practices that includes civil and

criminal penalties, the availability of injunctive relief, and individual rights of action for actual,

liquidated, and punitive damages); OECD Guidelines, Accountability Principle & ¶14 and

Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 62 (accountability supported by legal sanctions); IITF Report § III.C

(“envision[ing] various forms [of redress] including . . . informal complaint resolution, mediation,

arbitration, civil litigation . . . .”); EU Directive arts. 22-23 (judicial remedy and compensation).

52. Cf. Privacy Protection Study at 33 (identifying voluntary compliance, statutorily-created

rights enforceable through individual or government action, and centralized government

mechanisms as means of implementing compliance).

53. The European Union (“EU”) has recognized that self-regulation may in certain circumstances

constitute “adequate” privacy protection for purposes of the EU Directive’s ban on data transfer

to countries lacking “adequate” safeguards. See EU Directive art. 25. The EU has noted,

however, that non-legal rules such as industry association guidelines are relevant to the

“adequacy” determination only to the extent they are complied with and that compliance levels, in

turn, are directly related to the availability of sanctions and/or external verification of compliance. 

See European Commission, Directorate General XV, Working Document: Judging Industry SelfRegulation: When Does it Make a Meaningful Contribution to the Level of Data Protection in a

Third Country? (1998) available at

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dg15/en/media/dataprot/wp7.htm [hereinafter “Judging Industry

Self-Regulation”].

54. Discussion Draft: Elements of Effective Self-Regulation for Protection of Privacy (1998)

available at http://www.ecommerce.gov/staff.htm [hereinafter “Elements of Effective SelfRegulation”] (identifying consumer recourse, verification, and consequences as elements of an

effective self-regulatory regime).
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55. Id. Commission staff recently responded to a request from the Direct Marketing Association

(“DMA”) for an advisory opinion concerning whether the antitrust laws would permit it to require

three things of its members: (1) to use the DMA’s Mail Preference and Telephone Preference

Services to honor consumers’ requests to not be contacted by direct marketers; (2) to disclose to

consumers how members sell or otherwise transfer personal information about those consumers to

others; and (3) to honor consumers’ requests that the members not sell or transfer their personal

information. FTC Bureau of Competition staff advised the DMA of its conclusion that these

requirements, as the DMA described them, would not harm competition or violate the FTC Act. 

Letter from Bureau of Competition Assistant Director to Counsel for the DMA, Sept. 9, 1997,

available at http://www.ftc.gov/os/9710/dma.htm.

56. See Elements of Effective Self-Regulation.

57. FTC Report to Congress/Reference Services at 25-33. It is still too early to assess the success

or efficacy of this plan, because its provisions are not mandatory on its signatories until the end of

the year.

58. There may, alternatively, be a role for mechanisms to address practices affecting consumers as

a group, such as industry or trade association ethics or screening committees that can resolve

broader disputes.

59. See Elements of Effective Self-Regulation.

60. Several fair information practice codes suggest compensation for injuries as an important

element of fair information practice. See HEW Report at 50 (calling for Code of Fair Information

Practices that provides for actual, liquidated, and punitive damages); OECD Guidelines,

Accountability Principle & ¶ 14 and Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 62 (accountability supported by

legal sanctions); IITF Report § III.C (“envision[ing] various forms [of redress] including . . .

informal complaint resolution, mediation, arbitration, civil litigation . . . .”); see also Judging

Industry Self-Regulation at 5.

61. HEW Report at 50 (calling for Code of Fair Information Practices that includes civil and

criminal penalties, the availability of injunctive relief, and individual rights of action for actual,

liquidated, and punitive damages); OECD Guidelines, Accountability Principle & ¶ 14 and

Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 62 (accountability supported by legal sanctions); IITF Report § III.C

(“envision[ing] various forms [of redress] including . . . informal complaint resolution, mediation,

arbitration, civil litigation . . . .”); EU Directive arts. 22-23 (judicial remedy and compensation).

62. Two sectoral privacy acts provide for the recovery of actual, liquidated, and punitive damages

for violations. See Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, 18 U.S.C. § 2710(c) (providing for

award of actual damages or liquidated damages of not less than $2,500, punitive damages,

attorney’s fees, and equitable relief); Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 U.S.C.
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§ 551(f) (providing for recovery of actual damages or liquidated damages of not less than $1,000,

punitive damages, and attorney’s fees).

63. HEW Report at 50; IITF Report § III.C (discussing regulatory enforcement and criminal

prosecution as redress options); OECD Guidelines, Explanatory Memorandum ¶ 62 (referring to

accountability supported by legal sanctions); EU Directive art. 24 (unspecified sanctions for

violations of directive); see also CSA Model Code ¶ 4.10.3 (discussing regulatory bodies receiving

complaints of violations of fair information practice).

64. IITF Report § III.C (redress should be appropriate to violation).

65. The Commission’s Deception Policy Statement recognizes that children can be unfairly

exploited due to their age and lack of experience. See Deception Policy Statement, appended to

Cliffdale Associates, Inc., 103 F.T.C. 110, 179 n.30 (1984), citing Ideal Toy, 64 F.T.C. 297, 310

(1964). For example, the Commission’s actions regarding the marketing of pay-per-call 900

number services to children recognize children as a vulnerable group in the marketplace. See

Audio Communications, Inc., 114 F.T.C. 414 (1991) (consent order); Teleline, Inc., 114 F.T.C.

399 (1991) (consent order); Phone Programs, Inc., 115 F.T.C. 977 (1992) (consent order); Fone

Telecommunications, Inc., Docket No. C-3432 (June 14, 1993) (consent order). The Telephone

Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act of 1992 prohibits advertising of such services to children

under the age of 12, unless the service is a bona fide educational service. 15 U.S.C. §§ 5701 et

seq.

66. The Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), gives parents of minor

students the right to inspect, correct, amend, and control the disclosure of information in

education records. 20 U.S.C. § 1232g (1988). The Department of Health and Human Services

Policy for Protection of Human Research requires parental/guardian written consent for all

DHHS-funded research that involves children as subjects. 45 C.F.R. §§ 46.401-46.409 (1995). 

The Telephone Disclosure and Dispute Resolution Act of 1992 expressly prohibits advertising of

pay-per-call (e.g., 900) services, except bona fide educational services, to children under 12.

15 U.S.C. §§ 5701 et seq. (Supp. IV 1992). The Children’s Television Act of 1990, among other

things, requires television stations and cable operators to limit the amount of advertising during

children’s television programming. 47 U.S.C. § 303a(b) (Supp. V 1994).

67. See Letter from Jodie Bernstein, Director, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Federal Trade

Commission, to Center for Media Education, July 15, 1997, available at

http://www.ftc.gov/os/9707/cenmed.htm [hereinafter “staff opinion letter”]. Commissioner

Azcuenaga did not endorse all of the analyses and conclusions in the staff opinion letter.

68. Providing notice to parents raises some implementation issues, but where the child and parent

have separate e-mail addresses, notice could be provided to the parent by e-mail.
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69. Mechanisms for obtaining actual or verifiable parental consent include having the parent: mail

or fax a signed form downloaded from the site; provide a credit card number; or provide an

electronic (digital) signature. An e-mail message submitted without a digital signature may not be

adequate to assure parental consent, since a site operator has no means of knowing whether the

message is from a parent or a child. This is particularly true because most children do not

currently have their own e-mail addresses and instead share their parents’ e-mail addresses. While

electronic signatures may be the best solution in the future, they may not be widely available at

this point. In the meantime, children’s Web sites may need to adopt traditional consent

mechanisms, such as written consent forms and credit card numbers.

70. It is safe to assume that simply posting a privacy policy at a Web site or advising the child to

seek parental permission before providing information online will have little impact on children. 

Many children will simply ignore these statements. Many will lack the sophistication or judgment

to understand a privacy notice or to refrain from providing the requested information. Many

children will be unwilling to wait for parental consent, and will provide whatever information is

necessary to participate in the site’s activity. 

71. See supra Section III.A.1.

72. 63 Fed. Reg. 10,916 (1998).

73. The following trade associations and industry groups filed guidelines and/or principles: The

Bankers Roundtable, Banking Industry Technology Secretariat (“BITS”); Direct Marketing

Association (“DMA”); Electronic Messaging Association (“EMA”); Independent Bankers

Association of America (“IBAA”); Individual Reference Services Group (“IRSG”); Interactive

Services Association (“ISA”); Magazine Publishers of America (“MPA”); National Association of

Federal Credit Unions (“NAFCU”); and Smart Card Forum (“SCF”). The Council of Better

Business Bureaus, Inc.’s Children’s Advertising Review Unit (“CARU”) and the DMA also

submitted guidelines addressing marketing to children, which are discussed in Section IV.B infra. 

Numerous individual companies also filed their own privacy policies. Several other

organizations and individuals also filed comments in response to the notice. Those filings, which

are available for review on the Commission’s Web site at http://www.ftc.gov, are not analyzed

herein. The Commission’s purpose in soliciting trade association and industry group guidelines

was to assess industry’s progress towards achieving a self-regulatory regime with respect to

information collection online. While the Commission encourages individual companies to adopt

information practice policies for the online environment, appreciates all of the submissions it has

received in response to the Notice, and commends those firms that have developed effective selfregulatory policies, such policies, as well as the comments of other interested parties, do not

constitute the elements of a self-regulatory system, which was the focus of the Federal Register

Notice.
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74. See, e.g., NAFCU cover letter (“NAFCU does recommend that its members post privacy

policies on their Web sites”).

75. See ISA, Principles on Notice and Choice Procedures for Online Information Collection and

Distribution by Online Operators; DMA, Marketing Online: Privacy Principles and Guidance. 

The DMA encourages members to provide notice of, and substantive choice with respect to,

internal secondary uses of information as well (i.e., marketing back by the information collector).

76. The NAFCU submission is the only one that does not address choice.

77. See DMA, Marketing Online: Privacy Principles and Guidance; MPA submission.

78. See ISA, Principles on Notice and Choice Procedures for Online Information Collection and

Distribution by Online Operators.

79. See BITS and IBAA, Privacy Principles (BITS and IBAA each submitted the banking

industry’s Privacy Principles independently); SCF, Consumer Privacy and Smart Cards— A

Challenge and an Opportunity; IRSG, Individual Reference Services Industry Principles.

80. See generally BITS and IBAA, Privacy Principles; NAFCU, Recommended Privacy Policy;

SCF, Consumer Privacy and Smart Cards— A Challenge and an Opportunity; IRSG, Individual

Reference Services Industry Principles.

81. See IRSG, Individual Reference Services Industry Principles; DMA, The Committee on

Ethical Business Practice Procedures for Case Handling.

82. See IRSG, Individual Reference Services Industry Principles. The IRSG Principles, which

constitute one model for self-regulation, require independent annual third-party audits, the results

of which are made public, and limit the sharing of information with entities that do not adhere to

the Principles. The DMA has also announced that, effective July 1999, adherence to certain fair

information practices (notice and opt-out) will be mandatory for all members. See DMA Ethics

and Consumer Affairs Department, Case Report from the Direct Marketing Association’s

Committee on Ethical Business Practice (Sept.-Nov. 1997) at 4.

83. The DMA Committee on Ethical Business Practice investigates complaints against companies

alleged to be violating DMA’s voluntary guidelines. In cases in which a satisfactory resolution of

a complaint is not reached, the name of the company and the facts of the case are made public. In

addition, the Committee may refer cases to law enforcement agencies and/or to the DMA’s Board

of Directors for further action including censure, suspension and/or expulsion of a member. This

peer review process is non-binding. DMA, The Committee on Ethical Business Practice

Procedures for Case Handling.
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84. Both BITS and IBAA submitted BITS’s Privacy Principles Implementation Plan. The BITS

plan states that establishment of a privacy mark may be necessary, calls upon banks to “apply their

own internal process to assure compliance with the bank’s privacy principles,” and states that

“[b]reaches of policy will be addressed internally on a case-by-case basis by each bank.” This

non-binding reference to ensuring compliance with policies is the only reference to enforcement in

any of the submitted guidelines, other than the IRSG Principles and the DMA Committee on

Ethical Business Practice discussed above.

85. CARU was established by the advertising community as an independent manager of the

industry’s self-regulatory programs in 1974. Its main activity is the review and evaluation of

child-directed advertising in all media. Its Board of Directors consists of representatives from the

Council of Better Business Bureaus, the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the

American Advertising Federation, and the Association of National Advertisers. CARU is funded

directly by members of the children’s advertising industry. The DMA represents more than 3,600

member companies interested in database marketing. Its members include catalogers, financial

services, publishers, book and music clubs, retail stores, industrial manufacturers, and service

industries. Copies of both CARU’s and DMA’s guidelines are found in Appendix E.

86. The CARU Guidelines address children under age 12, while the DMA Children’s Guidelines

do not provide a definition for the term “children.”

87. CARU Guidelines at 1, 3. The CARU Guidelines do not define “passive tracking.” However,

the term refers to information collected by using navigational software designed to reveal

information about the visitor’s experience on the site, such as the pages visited, the information

downloaded, the content viewed, the operating system used, and the referring site’s Internet

address.

88. Id. at 4.

89. Id.

90. Id.

91. Id.

92. CARU is one of the few trade groups that implements a voluntary enforcement mechanism for

both its online privacy guidelines as well as its general media guidelines. In addition to its own

monitoring of advertisers, CARU initiates investigations upon receipt of a complaint from a

consumer or a company. CARU then seeks the advertiser’s compliance with its guidelines and

publishes its case reports. If a company is uncooperative and the practices are allegedly deceptive

or unfair, CARU refers the matter to the Commission. CARU’s voluntary enforcement 
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mechanism is modeled on that of the National Advertising Division (NAD), which is also

associated with the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc.

93. Since CARU’s founding in 1974, 98% of the subjects of its investigations have complied with

its decisions.

94. The CARU Guidelines apply generally to marketers of children’s products and services. Since

CARU is not a membership organization, however, adherence to its guidelines is not mandatory. 

Each of CARU’s leading organizational sponsors has urged its own members to implement the

CARU Guidelines, but these sponsors do not make adherence mandatory for their members.

95. The DMA Children’s Guidelines suggest that marketers use language such as “Your mom or

dad should say it’s okay for you to answer these questions,” but are not explicit with respect to

when parental permission should be sought. DMA Children’s Guidelines, Guideline No. 1.

96. DMA Children’s Guidelines, Guideline Nos. 1-2.

97. McCain/Bliley letters. Specifically, the Commission stated that “[w]e hope to find by March

1, 1998, that a substantial majority of commercial Web sites are clearly posting their information

practices and privacy policies.” Id. at n.2.

98. The samples for groups A-D were drawn from a comprehensive list of commercial Web sites

provided by the Dun and Bradstreet Corporation. See Appendix A.

99. The terms “likely to be of interest to consumers” and “primarily directed to children aged

fifteen or younger” are defined in Appendix A.

100. For a copy of the Survey Forms used by the surfers, see Appendix C.

101. These figures are based on data supplied by The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation. Figures do

not total 100%. Approximately 3% of the sites in all the samples are not classified by size,

because sales figures were unavailable. For a description of the Dun & Bradstreet database used

in this survey, see Appendix A.

102. See Appendix D, Table 1.

103. See Appendix D, Table 1.

104. See Appendix D, Table 1.

105. Company size information was not obtained for Web sites in this sample.

106. See supra Section II.B.
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107. The rates are: 92% of the sites in the Comprehensive Sample; 88% of the Health Sample

sites; 87% of the Retail Sample sites; 97% of the Financial Sample sites; and 97% of the Most

Popular Sample sites. See Appendix D, Table 3, which also sets forth statistics based upon

company size.

108. For purposes of this survey, the provision of a mechanism for sending e-mail to a site’s

Webmaster, without more, was not considered collection of an e-mail address. A site’s invitation

to online consumers to “Contact Us” or “Send Us Your Comments” by e-mail, however, was

deemed to be collection of an e-mail address. When the collection of an e-mail address is not

considered, the number of sites collecting personal information decreases slightly in all samples. 

Thus, 65% of all sites in the Comprehensive Sample collect some personal information other than

an e-mail address; as do 53% of the sites in the Health Sample; 67% of the sites in the Retail

Sample; 73% of the sites in the Financial Sample; and 94% of the sites in the Most Popular

Sample. See also infra note 115. Because the survey form did not identify the manner of e-mail

collection, the above statistics exclude all sites that collect only an e-mail address, including those

sites that ask for it in contexts other than “Contact Us,” such as on registration forms, etc.

109. For similar information with respect to the other samples, see Appendix D, Table 5.

110. See Appendix D, Table 4.

111. Id. 

112. The Commission cannot report on the number of companies in the survey that create such

profiles, because the survey concerns Web sites’ disclosures, and not actual practices.

113. The numbers for the Health, Retail and Financial samples are as follows: sites collecting five

or more additional types of information — 12% (Health), 19% (Retail), 26% (Financial); sites

collecting three or more additional types of information — 36% (Health), 60% (Retail), 53%

(Financial); sites collecting at least one additional type of information — 57% (Health), 76%

(Retail), 73% (Financial). See Appendix D, Table 6.

114. See Appendix D, Table 2.

115. See Appendix D, Table 7. The percentage of disclosures among sites that collect some

personal information other than an e-mail address is slightly higher: 21% in the Comprehensive

Sample; 24% in the Health Sample; 18% in the Retail Sample; 22% in the Financial Sample; and

74% in the Most Popular Sample. See also supra note 108.

116. See Appendix D, Table 8.

117. See Appendix D, Table 9.
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118. See Appendix D, Table 2.

119. See Appendix D, Table 7.

120. See Appendix D, Table 8.

121. See Appendix D, Table 9. Some sites post both a Privacy Policy Notice and one or more

Information Practice Statements.

122. See, e.g., Communications Daily (Untitled, February 10, 1998); Washington Telecom

Newswire (Untitled, February 9, 1998); I. Teinowitz, “FTC Will Survey Marketer Web Sites for

Privacy,” Advertising Age (February 1998), available at

http://www.adage.com/interactive/articles/19980216/article1.html.

123. See Appendix D, Table 7.

124. Given the small number of sites involved, statistics based upon company size have not been

reported.

125. The rate is 33% (or 31 sites) for the Comprehensive Sample, 32% (or 6 sites) for the Health

Sample, 33% (or 6 sites) for the Retail Sample, and 35% (or 7 sites) for the Financial Sample. 

See Appendix D, Table 10. In responding to the relevant question on the General Survey Form,

staff counted both statements giving choice regarding internal uses of the personal information

and statements giving choice about the transfer of the information to third parties as statements

offering consumers choice about how the information collected will be used. See Appendix C.

126. The rate is 10% (or 9 sites) for the Comprehensive Sample. See Appendix D, Table 10.

127. The rate is 6% (or 1 site) for the Retail Sample and 5% (or 1 site) for the Financial Sample. 

See Appendix D, Table 10.

128. See Appendix D, Table 11. The rate for the Health Sample is 32% (or 6 sites) and the rate

for the Retail Sample is 22% (or 4 sites). Statements such as “We keep this information

confidential” were counted as assertions of non-disclosure to third parties.

129. See Appendix D, Table 11. Statements indicating that demographic or interest information

may be shared with third parties were counted as assertions of possible third-party disclosures.

130. See Appendix D, Table 12. When expressed as a percentage of all sites in a given sample

(and not just those sites that collect personal information and have an information practice

disclosure), the percent of sites offering choice, access, or security, or addressing disclosures to

third parties, is even lower. Thus, only 5% of all sites in the Comprehensive Sample, 4% of all

sites in the Health and Retail Samples, and 6% of all sites in the Financial Sample state that they
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offer consumers choice; 1% of all sites in the Comprehensive Sample, 2% of all sites in the Retail

Sample and no sites in the Health and Financial Samples state that they offer consumers access;

2% of all sites in the Comprehensive Sample, no sites in the Health Sample, and 1% of all sites in

the Retail and Financial Samples state that they take data security measures; 5% of all sites in the

Comprehensive Sample, 4% of all sites in the Health Sample, and 3% of all sites in the Retail and

Financial Samples state that they will not disclose any personal information collected to third

parties; and 5% of all sites in the Comprehensive Sample, 4% of all sites in the Health and Retail

Samples, and 6% of all sites in the Financial Sample state that they may disclose some or all of the

personal information collected to third parties.

131. See Appendix D, Table 10.

132. Id.

133. Id.

134. See Appendix D, Table 11.

135. Id. Again, the above figures are significantly lower when expressed as a percentage of all

sites in the Most Popular Sample. Thus, 49% of all sites in the Most Popular Sample state that

they offer consumers choice; 27% state that they offer consumers access; 12% state that they take

data security measures; 10% state that none of the personal information collected will be

disclosed to third parties; and 56% state that some or all of the personal information collected

may be disclosed to third parties.

136. See Appendix D, Table 12.

137. See Appendix D, Table 3.

138. See Appendix D, Table 13.

139. As in the General Survey, a mere hyperlink to a site’s Webmaster was not considered

collection of an e-mail address for purposes of this survey. However, hypertext that asks visitors

to “Contact Us” or “Send Us Your Comments” was included as collection of an e-mail address. 

See supra note 108.

140. See Appendix D, Table 5. 

141. See Appendix D, Table 6.

142. For instance, in order to register for certain online activities, some sites require children to

identify their interests such as rollerblading, skateboarding, ice skating, biking, video games,

science, football, soccer, and computer games. Other sites ask children information about their
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favorite television shows, commercials, and musical groups.

143. For example, one site asks children personal financial questions such as the following:

Do you own mutual funds?

Are your parents currently saving for your college education?

What do you usually do with gifts of money?

144. See Appendix D, Table 2. The higher disclosure rate for the Children’s Sample may reflect

the fact that staff publicly disclosed that this sample would be selected from sites listed in the

Yahooligans! Directory.

145. Id.

146. See Appendix D, Table 9.

147. See Appendix D, Table 8.

148. See Appendix D, Table 10.

149. Id.

150. Id.

151. Westin Survey at 3.

152. See Appendix D, Table 13.

153. See Appendix D, Table 11.

154. Id.

155. See Appendix D, Table 13.

156. Id.

157. Id.

158. Id. Examples of opt-out statements include: “When minors subscribe to the newsletter, they

are asked for their parent’s e-mail informing them [sic] their kid has subscribed to the e-mail and

the parent has the option to discontinue this subscription,” and “All parents can correct or remove

any information we receive from a child by contacting us online, by phone or mail.” 

159. Westin Survey at 3.
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160. Current American privacy law can best be described as sectoral, consisting of a handful of

disparate statutes directed at specific industries that collect personal data and none of which

specifically covers the collection of personal information online. See, e.g., Fair Credit Reporting

Act (“FCRA”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 1681 et seq. (governing consumer credit reports); Electronic

Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510 et seq. (governing electronic mail and

voicemail communications); Cable Communications Policy Act of 1984, 47 U.S.C. § 551

(governing cable television subscriber information); Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978, 12

U.S.C. §§ 3401 et seq. (governing individual bank records); Video Privacy Protection Act of

1988, 18 U.S.C. § 2710 (governing video rental records); Family Educational Rights and Privacy

Act of 1974, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g (governing student records); Communications Act of 1934, as

amended by, Telecommunications Act of 1996, 47 U.S.C. § 222 (governing information relating

to use of telecommunication services [“customer proprietary network information”]); cf. Privacy

Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. § 552a (governing data collected by the federal government). Pursuant to

the Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Miller, 425 U.S. 435 (1976), individuals have no

Fourth Amendment interest in personal information they voluntarily have conveyed to another. 

Consequently, any privacy protections for personal information must be legislatively grounded.

161. 15 U.S.C. §§ 41 et seq.

162. See supra note 67.

163. Parental notice raises some implementation issues. In those instances where parents and

children have separate e-mail addresses, notice may be provided to parents electronically. Where

verifiable parental consent is required, sites can simply direct children to download (print) the

notice and consent form and have the parent return the signed form by regular mail or facsimile.
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APPENDIX A: METHODOLOGY

APPENDIX B: SURFER INSTRUCTIONS (GENERAL AND 

CHILDREN’S SURVEYS)

APPENDIX C: SURVEY SAMPLES AND RESULTS

APPENDIX D: SUPPORTING DATA TABLES

APPENDIX E: INDUSTRY GUIDELINES