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Strategies & Market Trends : The Thread Formerly Known as No Rest For The Wicked -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RangeRover who wrote (12395)	2/5/1999 10:21:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90042

Friday, February 5, 1999 Feds To Track Internet Sales By TED BRIDIS, Associated Press Writer SECTIONS CUTTING EDGE Tech & Computing WALL STREET CA Finance & Investing SMALL BUSINESS Resources for Growth ADV.&MARKETING Art of the Message COMPANY TOWN Hollywood Biz WORK&CAREERS Office View COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE Deals & Development COLUMNS Ideas and Issues ADVERTISEMENT ASHINGTON--The Commerce Department said today it will begin tracking sales on the Internet, which it called "a major indicator of the nation's economic health." But even as the government touted figures showing that consumers spent $9 billion last year on the Internet, it warned that growth of electronic commerce will wane unless shoppers trust that personal information will be kept private. "I wouldn't want people selling information about which books I buy, or what records I buy," said Robert Pitofsky, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission. "The Internet is probably going to grow, anyway. It's just not going to grow as fast until these concerns are addressed." "Consumers have to feel as comfortable doing business in cyberspace as they do on Main Street," added Commerce Secretary William Daley. Daley said his agency will begin tracking separately sales over the Internet, which currently are included within government figures for catalog sales. But he said complete figures for last year and this year won't be available until the summer of 2000 -a virtual eternity in what the industry sometimes calls "Internet time." At a joint news conference today, Daley and Pitofsky lauded the online industry for improving the protection of consumer privacy on the Internet. But they said the Clinton administration wants continued efforts, and added that new federal privacy legislation could be passed to mandate such privacy protections. "It has taken some strong prodding," Daley said. "This year, I want to see more progress, especially among smaller companies. ... To be frank with you, the laws should not be the last line of defense." "We continue to look to industry to take the lead in self-regulation," Pitofsky said. The FTC has criticized the online industry for its failure to protect privacy rights, and the agency successfully pressed last year for a new law that prohibits Web sites from collecting personal information from children without parental permission. Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved Search the archives of the Los Angeles Times for similar stories. You will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one.