US: Association formed

Some 50 companies involved in the information technology industry – including America Online, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, and Microsoft – together with advertisers, direct marketeers and Internet service providers, have grouped together to form the Privacy Alliance, an association to promote self-regulation in Internet commerce. The initial aim is to draw up a set of privacy standards; these principles would then be promoted to all interested parties as the industry standard to protect privacy on the Internet.