Will FTC get the funds it needs to police Internet?

As Congress weighs whether to expand the powers of the Federal Trade Commission as an online privacy watchdog, a key question looms. Will Washington fund its work?

The FTC over the past few months has brokered landmark privacy settlements with Google, Twitter and countless other Web companies — even as the agency’s privacy team and roughly $291 million budget for 2011 has remained relatively small. But Congress envisions an even broader role for the commission in protecting consumers on the Internet and could charge the agency with overseeing laws requiring Web companies to let users opt out of some online advertising and better protecting children younger than 13. The push to give the FTC a greater role as the Internet’s top cop may soon trigger a debate over the agency’s resources. In fact, the growing clamor for more online privacy enforcement could drown under the wave of fiscal austerity sweeping Capitol Hill this year.