The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission warned that the e-commerce industry's battle against federal privacy standards could backfire.

"Without comprehensive federal legislation, it is possible that something of a vacuum will be created and states may enter, not always with consistent proposals, to protect the privacy of their citizens," Chairman Robert Pitofsky said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center here.

The comments were Mr. Pitofsky's second suggestion this week that the e-commerce industry may want to reconsider its "self-regulation" approach, which is being questioned with increasing volume by privacy advocates amid reports of ever more sophisticated data-collection methods being employed on the Internet. Mr. Pitofsky made similar remarks Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee.

WASHINGTON -- The chairman of the Federal Trade Commission warned that the e-commerce industry's battle against federal privacy standards could backfire.

"Without comprehensive federal legislation, it is possible that something of a vacuum will be created and states may enter, not always with consistent proposals, to protect the privacy of their citizens," Chairman Robert Pitofsky said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center here.

"There may soon come a point when a business community will have to decide whether it prefers a single comprehensive federal rule, or a situation in which a variety of state rules create difficult-to-follow mandates," he warned.

The comments were Mr. Pitofsky's second suggestion this week that the e-commerce industry may want to reconsider its "self-regulation" approach, which is being questioned with increasing volume by privacy advocates amid reports of ever more sophisticated data-collection methods being employed on the Internet. Mr. Pitofsky made similar remarks Tuesday before the Senate Commerce Committee.

Increasingly, privacy advocates and others have turned to the FTC to achieve some regulation of the Internet, and the agency is seen by some in Washington as making a play to become the primary federal overseer of the medium.

Yesterday, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a Washington advocacy group, asked the FTC to investigate the information-collection practices of New York Internet-advertising firm Doubleclick Inc. It said the company uses unfair and deceptive tactics to track individuals online with a massive database.

A company spokeswoman rejected the charge. "DoubleClick will only combine off-line and online information when the user has been given prior notice and choice, and therefore this complaint is without merit."

A number of events this week confirmed that privacy has risen to the top of the political agenda in Washington. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle assembled a Senate Democratic Privacy Task Force, to be headed by Sen. Pat Leahy, a noted technophile and senior Judiciary Committee Democrat. Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Richard Shelby announced the formation of a bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus.

In addition, Sen. Robert Torricelli (D., N.J.) offered the latest of the many privacy bills that have been filed in the weeks since Congress convened last month. Mr. Torricelli's bill would require the approval of consumers before Internet companies can place so-called "cookies" on their computers. The software programs track where users go online for future use by Web sites.

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Credit: Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal