On Wednesday, a slew of organizations including the Consumers Union, Junkbusters, the Eagle Forum and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) sent a letter to Muris, collectively advocating more aggressive privacy protection initiatives than the FTC has advocated thus far.

"There are few issues of greater concern to consumers today than the protection of privacy," said the letter, adding that the FTC must tackle the issue in order to ensure the success of emerging online markets.

"Unfortunately, the Commission has recently failed to take appropriate steps to sanction companies that have changed privacy policies, improperly collected personal information about consumers, and contributed to further public concern about the adequacy of privacy protection in the United States," the letter went on to say.

Reacting to Amazon Decisions

The letter is partially in response to the FTC's decisions in two separate cases last week not to pursue allegations that online retailer Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) violated the confidentiality of its customers.

On May 24th, the FTC informed several of the consumer groups that helped compose Wednesday's letter that Amazon.com did not infringe upon its customers' privacy when it unilaterally altered its guidelines last September to allow for the future collection and sale of customers' personal information.

And last Friday, the FTC said that although claims Amazon.com's Alexa Internet division made about its data collection practices "likely were deceptive, nevertheless, we have decided not to recommend enforcement action at this time."

Alexa founder Brewster Kahle later told news sources: "We're jazzed that [the FTC] closed the investigation without doing anything."

Junkbusters' Muckraker

Junkbusters president Jason Catlett reacted to the decisions by sending a separate letter to Muris on Wednesday.

"We ask the Commission to require Amazon to undergo an on-site audit by a competent and independent firm to determine whether its actual past conduct (rather than just its own descriptions of its practices) conformed with the various versions of its privacy policies," Catlett wrote.

"This is only one of many actions that we believe are necessary to give the American public confidence that they can participate in e-commerce without losing control of their personal data," Catlett continued. "Without the ability to inspect one's personal data, it is impossible to verify that all information maintained was collected with consent."

"Without this and the ability to delete, the idea of 'choice' is essentially meaningless since consumers are irrevocably committing to an unknown outcome," he added.

'Certain Steps' Urged

In Wednesday's group letter, Catlett and his colleagues listed "certain steps" they believed were necessary "to strengthen the marketplace and promote public confidence in the deployment of new customer services."

The group recommended that the FTC improve the processing of consumer privacy complaints, provide annual reports on the frequency and nature of these complaints, and meet "regularly with consumer and privacy groups regarding the development of Commission policies and practices."

While talking with news sources, Catlett noted that no one is sure of Muris' stance on consumer privacy.

"It's conceivable he may turn out to be more sympathetic of privacy than [former chairman Robert] Pitofsky was," said Catlett. "It's up to him to demonstrate where he stands."