WASHINGTON, June 3, 1998 -- CDT expects the Federal Trade Commission's report on Consumer Online Privacy, to be released tomorrow, to highlight the growing privacy crisis in the online environment.

The report will conclude the FTC's three year examination of privacy issues in the online environment providing Congress with its appraisal of: industry efforts to implement privacy policies online; industry efforts to address children's privacy concerns; and existing information collection practices at commercial Web sites. In addition, the FTC is likely to provide information about enforcement actions and provide recommendations for advancing privacy online.

CDT expects that the FTC report will find that few Web sites are providing consumers with information about their use of personal information; that to date, industry efforts at self-regulation have failed to provide pervasive, meaningful privacy protections; and, that despite FTC staff guidance and industry guidelines, Web sites directed at children continue to collect data from children and disclose it to third-parties without parental involvement. The report is likely to recommend increased government action to protect children's privacy.

Once the FTC report is available CDT will comment on government, advocacy and industry efforts necessary to make privacy a reality on the Internet.

The Center for Democracy and Technology, a non-profit organization, is dedicated to developing public policy solutions that advance civil liberties and democratic values in the new computer and communications media.