Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., threw his support...

the promulgation of voluntary industry standards that serve to protect consumers,” he wrote FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz on Wednesday (http://xrl.us/bnsg73). Industry efforts to offer consumer privacy protections have “failed,” and the current self-regulatory regime is “ineffective” and “riddled with exceptions,” Rockefeller said. “If the advertising industry cannot be coaxed into living up to its commitment and adopting robust voluntary DNT standards, I believe it will only highlight the need for Congress to act.” Last year, Rockefeller introduced the Do-Not-Track Online Act (S-913) that languished in committee without a vote. Nine House Republicans last month questioned the FTC’s authority to develop DNT standards and its participation in W3C activities (CD Sept 24 p24). The lawmakers accused the commission of restricting online ads “without any formal legal process or Congressional authorization, but rather through informal agency threats.” The FTC did not comment on Rockefeller’s letter but confirmed that the commission sent its former Chief Technologist, Ed Felton, to attend this week’s W3C meeting in Amsterdam as an adviser. The Software and Information Industry Association urged advertising groups to play a “lead role” in developing a DNT standard or websites could be “pushed back to the Internet dark ages,” said Vice President-Public Policy Mark MacCarthy. “If a reasonable consensus on Do Not Track is not reached during discussions underway at W3C, many forms of tracking that are non-invasive and vital to the future of the Internet could be collateral damage,” he said. The Digital Advertising Alliance “can help prevent this by stepping forward with a sensible strategy for implementing a Do Not Track standard.”