Web Privacy on the Radar in Congress

Questions of data collection and privacy policies are attracting the attention of Congress. There is no broad privacy legislation governing advertising on the Internet. And even some in the government admit that they do not have a clear grasp of what companies are able to do with the wealth of data now available to them. "That is why Congress, at this point, is wanting to gather a lot more information, because no one knows," said Steven A. Hetcher, a professor at Vanderbilt University Law School. "That information is incredibly valuable; it's the new frontier of advertising." Beyond the data question, there are issues of how companies should tell browsers that their information is being tracked, which area of law covers this and what -- if anything -- proper regulation would look like.