Even if unmoved by the potential number of plaintiffs, Congress might find their testimonies harder to ignore. John Doe asks. Regardless of the outcome of the Chicago case, EPIC believes Americans' privacy will continue to be threatened at many levels. Rather, he says, the emergence of the Internet has simply brought to light the fact that adequate laws for privacy protection are not in place. But the FTC party line is that a congressional measure to protect online privacy is unnecessary because the industry has greatly improved its methods for informing the public about what they do with the personal information it gathers.
EPIC believes self-regulation is inadequate.
There is also some evidence of disagreement concerning privacy issues within the FTC itself. But besides dissent among its members, there's another sign that the FTC is having problems coping with the issue of online privacy. On Oct. 12, EPIC filed suit against the FTC under the Freedom of Information Act, asking it to release its records on privacy complaints since the FTC had not responded to EPIC's numerous written requests for the same. After the FTC strips all identifying information from complaints that fall into the first group, EPIC will receive copies. In simpler language, the FTC is a black hole for the privacy concerns of consumers.