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FTC Sets New Privacy Agenda

october 4, 2001

Muris

Saying that "there is no question that consumers are deeply concerned about the privacy of their personal information ... how it's being used ... and who is using it," Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy J. Muris outlined the FTC's new Privacy Agenda and sasid the agency plans to increase resources dedicated to privacy protection by 50 percent.

Muris said the September 11 terrorist attacks have highlighted consumers' concerns about their security, as well as the fact that one of the "government's most important jobs is to protect its citizens." He said that although issues of national security and defense are outside the purview of the Commission, the agency will do all it can to protect consumer privacy in the commercial realm - both online and off-line.

Muris presented a detailed FTC enforcement plan, developed over the past four months through meetings with agency, consumer, industry, and trade association officials, that will involve "every division of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and increase the resources devoted to privacy issues substantially."

The agenda includes the following law enforcement and education initiatives:

• Creating a National Do-Not-Call List;
• Beefing Up Enforcement Against Deceptive Spam;
• Helping Victims of Identity Theft;
• Putting a Stop to Pretexting;
• Encouraging Accuracy in Credit Reporting and Compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA);
• Enforcing Privacy Promises;
• Increasing Enforcement and Outreach on Children's Online Privacy;
• Tracking Consumers' Privacy Complaints;
• Enforcing the Telemarketing Sales Rule;
• Restricting the Use of Pre-acquired Account Information;
• Enforcing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLB); and
• Holding Privacy-related Commission Workshops.

Regarding possible legislation concerning both Internet and off-line privacy, the Chairman said that while there are "clearly good arguments for such legislation," such as the establishment of a clear set of rules about how personal information is collected and used, "it is too soon to conclude that we can fashion workable legislation to accomplish these goals."

Muris delivered his remarks at the 2001 Privacy Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

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