[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 181 (Monday, September 20, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50813-50815]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-24252]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION

[Docket No. 990811219-9219-01]


Public Workshop on Online Profiling

AGENCIES: National Telecommunications and Information Administration, 
Commerce; Federal Trade Commission.

ACTION: Notice; request for public comment.

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SUMMARY: The National Telecommunications and Information Administration 
(``NTIA'') of the United States Department of Commerce and the Federal 
Trade Commission have determined to hold a public workshop on ``online 
profiling,'' the practice of aggregating information about consumers' 
preferences and interests, gathered primarily by tracking their 
movements online, and using the resulting consumer profiles to create 
targeted advertising on Web sites. The workshop will be divided into 
three sessions. Session I will explore developments in information 
technology that facilitate online profiling. Session II will examine 
the implications of online profiling technologies for consumer privacy. 
Session III will focus on the online profiling industry's self-
regulatory efforts to protect consumers' privacy online. Any person who 
wishes to participate as a panelist in one or more of the workshop 
sessions must file a written request to participate. In addition, the 
agencies are requesting public comment addressing various issues 
related to the practice of online profiling.

DATES: The workshop will be held on November 8, 1999 at the U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Main Auditorium, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, 
Washington, DC 20230. The workshop is open to the public.
    Written comments and requests to participate as a panelist in the 
workshop must be filed on or before October 18, 1999. Persons filing 
requests to participate as a panelist will be notified on or before 
October 25, 1999, if they have been selected to participate.

ADDRESSES: Written comments and requests to participate as a panelist 
in the workshop should be submitted to Secretary, Federal Trade 
Commission, Room H-159, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 
20580.

Submission of Documents

    Parties sending written comments and/or requests to participate 
should submit an original and two copies of each document. To enable 
prompt review and public access, paper submissions should include a 
version on diskette in PDF, ASCII, WordPerfect (please specify version) 
or Microsoft Word (please specify version) format. Diskettes should be 
labeled with the name of the party, and the name and version of the 
word processing program used to create the document. Alternatively, 
documents may be submitted to the following email address: 
[email protected].

Written Comments

    Comments should be captioned ``Online Profiling Project--Comment, 
P994809 / Docket No. 990811219-9219-01.'' Rebuttal comments should be 
submitted following the procedures described above. All comments will 
be posted on the Federal Trade Commission's Web site: www.ftc.gov and 
on the NTIA's Web site: www.ntia.doc.gov.

Requests To Participate as Panelist in the Workshop

    Requests to participate as a panelist should be captioned ``Online 
Profiling Project--Request to Participate, P994809 / Docket No. 
990811219-9219-01.''
    Parties may apply to participate as a panelist in more than one 
workshop session. Requests to participate, however, must specify the 
session(s) in which participation is sought. Parties applying to 
participate are also encouraged to file written comments.
    Requesters will be notified on or before October 25, 1999, if they 
have been selected to participate in workshop sessions. To assist staff 
of the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission in 
making this notification, parties are asked to include in their request 
to participate a telephone number, facsimile number, and email address 
if available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wendy S. Lader, NTIA, U.S. Department 
of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230, 
telephone (202) 482-1880, email [email protected]; or Martha K. 
Landesberg, Division of Financial Practices, Federal Trade Commission, 
600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Mail Stop 4429, Washington, DC 20580, 
telephone (202) 326-2825, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Authority: 15 U.S.C. 41 et seq.; 47 U.S.C. 902(b)(2)(H); 47 
U.S.C. 902(b)(2)(M).

1. Background

    In July 1998, Vice President Gore asked the Department of Commerce 
to work with the Federal Trade Commission to encourage companies that 
build dossiers (profiles) about individuals by integrating information 
from a variety of database sources to implement effective self-
regulatory mechanisms. The Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade 
Commission have been working together to explore ways in which consumer 
privacy can be protected in light of the rise of new technologies that 
facilitate ``online profiling,'' the practice of aggregating 
information about consumers' preferences and interests, gathered 
primarily by tracking their movements online, and using the resulting 
consumer profiles to create targeted advertising on Web sites. 
Profiling typically employs ``cookies,'' text files placed on users' 
computers to store information about their computers and their online 
activities. Companies are involved in a wide array of activities that 
support online profiling. For example, some companies develop profiling 
software and license it to Web sites that wish to track their own 
visitors; others manage networks of sites, pool data about consumers 
who visit sites in those networks, and sell or place online advertising 
based upon inferences about consumers drawn from the pooled data; still 
others specialize in measuring the popularity of particular online 
advertisements for advertisers. Privacy concerns have been raised by 
many of these practices. Consumers are largely unaware of the creation 
of online profiles, and the implementation of core fair information 
practices of notice, choice, access and security with respect to the 
collection of information in online profiles remains a significant 
challenge. The Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission 
are announcing a public workshop to be held on November 8, 1999, to 
inform government officials and the public about these and related 
issues, and about industry's current self-regulatory efforts to develop 
privacy protections for online consumers.

[[Page 50814]]

2. Workshop Agenda

    The workshop will be held on November 8, 1999 at the U.S. 
Department of Commerce, Main Auditorium, 1401 Constitution Ave., NW, 
Washington, DC 20230. The tentative schedule for the workshop is as 
follows: the workshop will begin at 8:30 a.m. and will consist of three 
sessions, which will run consecutively.

Session I: Online Profiling Technology

    This session will explore information technologies that facilitate 
profiling of consumers online, both technologies that are currently in 
use and those in development. This session will focus particularly on 
the extent to which these technologies permit the integration of 
information that identifies consumers as individuals with non-
identifying information.

Session II: Implications of Online Profiling Technology for User 
Privacy

    This session will examine the extent to which online profiling 
technologies impinge upon consumer privacy, as well as the costs and 
benefits of online profiling for both consumers and businesses.

Session III: The Role of Self Regulation

    This session will examine the potential of self-regulation as a 
means of addressing the privacy concerns raised by online profiling. 
This session will also examine ways in which profiling technology can 
be deployed to promote adherence to fair information practices. Current 
efforts to implement fair information practices in the profiling 
industry will be discussed.

3. Participation in Workshop Sessions

    Those parties who wish to participate as panelists in the workshop 
must notify the Secretary of the Federal Trade Commission, in writing, 
of their interest in participating in Sessions I, II, and/or III on or 
before October 18, 1999. Parties may participate in more than one 
workshop session; requests to participate must specify the session(s) 
in which participation is sought. All workshop sessions are open to the 
public.
    Staff of the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade 
Commission will select a limited number of panelists to participate in 
the Workshop Sessions. In order to promote a thorough examination of 
the issues and to facilitate an effective discussion, participants will 
be chosen to represent different points of view and interests. Parties 
requesting to participate are therefore encouraged to file written 
comments. The agencies may invite parties to participate as panelists 
who have not filed requests to participate.
    Parties will participate in an open discussion of the issues. It is 
contemplated that the selected panelists will ask and answer questions 
based on their respective comments, including questions posed by staff 
of the Department of Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission, at the 
workshop. The discussion will be transcribed and the transcription 
placed on the public record.
    To the extent possible, staff of the Department of Commerce and the 
Federal Trade Commission will select panelists to represent the 
following affected interests, as well as any other interests that staff 
may identify and deem appropriate for representation. For Session I: 
online profiling companies; Web site operators; online advertisers; 
experts in profiling technology and software. For Session II: consumer 
and privacy advocacy groups; industry groups; Internet service 
providers; Web site operators; online marketers; Internet ``portal'' 
sites; consumers who are active on the World Wide Web. For Session III: 
online profiling companies; Web site operators; online advertisers; 
Internet ``portal'' sites; industry groups; consumer and privacy 
advocacy groups. Each session may also include members of the academic 
or research community with expertise in privacy, fair information 
practices, and/or consumer preferences with respect to the use of 
personal information in the online environment.
    Parties to represent the above-referenced interests will be 
selected on the basis of the following criteria:
    1. The party's participation would promote a balance of interests 
being represented at the workshop.
    2. The party has expertise in or knowledge of the issues that are 
the focus of the workshop.
    3. The party adequately reflects the views of the affected 
interest(s) which it purports to represent, not simply a single entity 
or firm within that interest.
    4. The party has been designated by one or more interested parties 
(who timely file written comments and requests to participate) as a 
party who shares group interests with the designator(s).
    5. The number of parties selected will not be so large as to 
inhibit effective discussion among them.
    If it is necessary to limit the number of panelists, those not 
selected to participate may be afforded an opportunity at the end of 
the workshop to present their views during a limited time period. The 
time allotted for these statements will be determined on the basis of 
the time necessary for discussion of the issues by the selected 
parties, as well as by the number of persons who wish to make 
statements.

4. Invitation To Comment

    Interested parties are requested to submit written comments on any 
issue of fact, law, or policy that may inform the U. S. Department of 
Commerce and the Federal Trade Commission's study of online profiling. 
Specifically, comment is requested on the questions set forth below. 
These questions are designed to assist the public, however, and should 
not be construed as a limitation on the issues on which public comment 
may be submitted. Comments should cite the number of the question(s) 
addressed. Please provide copies of any studies, research, or other 
empirical data referenced in comments.
    1. What types of companies are engaged in online profiling or in 
the development of online profiling technologies? What are the relevant 
business models?
    2. What types of information are currently being collected by 
online profiling companies from or about Web site visitors?
    3. What technologies do online profiling companies use to collect 
information about consumers? Please describe how these technologies 
function.
    4. Do these technologies currently enable creation of anonymous 
profiles?
    5. Do these technologies currently enable the creation of consumer 
profiles that identify individual consumers? Do the profiles include 
information originally collected anonymously but later linked to an 
individual? Are online profiling companies currently creating such 
profiles?
    6. Are there technologies in development that will enable the 
creation of consumer profiles that identify individual consumers? If 
so, please describe.
    7. How is the information collected by online profiling companies 
used?
    8. Is the information collected by online profiling companies being 
merged with other databases? If so, what kinds of information are 
included in such databases? How is the merged information being used?
    9. What are the costs and benefits, to both industry and consumers, 
of online profiling?
    10. What are consumers' perceptions about online profiling? Please 
provide the results of any studies or surveys addressing this question.
    11. What are the beneficial uses of the information collected by 
online profiling companies?

[[Page 50815]]

    12. Are consumers' privacy interests implicated by the collection, 
compilation, sale and use of information collected by online profiling 
companies? If so, please describe.
    13. Do online profiling companies disclose the ultimate uses of the 
information they collect? If so, what is the nature of such 
disclosures? Where possible, please provide examples of such 
disclosures.
    14. Do online profiling companies provide effective mechanisms for 
a consumer to remove his or her information from their databases or 
otherwise control the use of such information?
    15. Do online profiling companies provide consumers an opportunity 
to choose whether and how their information will be collected and used? 
If so, please describe the choices that consumers are given and how 
consumers can exercise these choices.
    16. What is current industry practice, with respect to information 
already collected from individuals, when there is a later change in the 
company's policies? What is the current industry practice, with respect 
to information already collected from individuals, when there is a 
material change in the corporate structure or business contracts 
governing such information, such as through a merger, joint venture, or 
sale of customer lists? Do online profiling companies provide notice 
and choice with respect to how already-collected information is handled 
under changed circumstances?
    17. What, if any, legal or other practical issues would be 
implicated in the creation of effective self-regulatory programs to 
govern the sorts of changed circumstances described in Question 16?
    18. Do online profiling companies provide consumers the opportunity 
to see what information has been collected from or about them and the 
ability to correct errors? If so, please describe.
    19. What procedures have online profiling companies instituted to 
maintain the security of the information they collect?
    20. What self-regulatory efforts have online profiling companies 
undertaken to address concerns raised by their collection, compilation, 
sale, and use of consumer information? How do these efforts address the 
fair information practice of notice, choice, access, security, and 
enforcement? What are the costs and benefits, to both consumers and 
businesses, of such self-regulatory efforts?
    21. Are there any efforts currently underway or planned to educate 
consumers and businesses about online profiling? If so, please 
describe.

5. Form and Availability of Comments

    Comments should indicate the number(s) of the specific question(s) 
being answered, provide responses to questions in numerical order, and 
use a new page for each question answered.
    Written comments will be available for public inspection in 
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552, and 
Federal Trade Commission regulations, 16 CFR part 4.9, Monday through 
Friday between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. at the Public 
Reference Room 130, Federal Trade Commission, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, 
NW, Washington, DC 20580. The agencies will make this notice and, to 
the extent technically possible, all comments received in response to 
this notice available to the public through the Internet at the 
following addresses: www.ftc.gov and www.ntia.doc.gov.

    By direction of the Commission.
Donald S. Clark,
Secretary, Federal Trade Commission.
Kathy D. Smith,
Acting Chief Counsel, National Telecommunications and Information 
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.
[FR Doc. 99-24252 Filed 9-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-60-P 6750-01-P