This may well be the year this issue reaches critical mass, as there are about a half dozen bills on Capitol Hill that would federally mandate what is already stated in the voluntary guidelines. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, conducted hearings on the issue toward the end of the last session. He promised to revisit the subject this year. But the privacy controversy is a two-edge sword. Technology Policy Analyst Shane Ham and PPI Vice President Rob Atkinson point out that advertisers target their messages to the people whom are most interested in seeing them.
Targeted ads are much more likely to result in sales and generate a great more in revenue.
With the financial difficulties that so many Web sites have experienced, these higher ad rates are more important than ever. If the ability to generate ad revenue is destroyed by overly broad policy legislation, then Web sites dependent on ads as a critical portion of their revenue will either have to charge subscription fees or go out of business. Ham and Atkinson warn that fears about privacy and excessive policy regulation are equally grave threats to the growth of the Internet, and any legislation must pay attention to both giving consumers the privacy protection they need without imposing excessively restrictive legislation. But opponents of federal laws have their work cut out for them. Privacy is one of the few issues where many Republicans and Democrats are in agreement.