Unlike many other industrialized nations, the United States does not have a large governmental organization dedicated to privacy, or for that matter very many laws that specifically address privacy. That's probably a good thing, as Internet and other communications technology is advancing so quickly that such a large government effort would be clumsy and possibly counter-productive. The main areas of current U.S. government activity are the protection of children online, and enforcing fraud statutes that require websites to live up to the privacy promises they make in their online privacy statements. The most agressive policing force in this area is the Federal Trade Commision, which has a lot of privacy information on their website and will also take complaints about violating websites. If you've experienced a problem, other governmental authorities that might help are your specific Congressional office, and your state's attorneys general or consumer protection agency.

Instead of a regulatory structure, much of U.S. industry privacy policing is left to private sector industry trade associations, some of which have launched privacy seal programs that commit a website operator to certain privacy standards. The most prominent of these privacy seals are the Better Business Bureau Online and Trust-E. Look for these seals at websites before giving personal information, and where appropriate you should also encourage your favorite sites to enroll in one of these programs. The BBB program also has a complaint arbitration process, so if you've had a problem with a site that has a BBB seal you can seek quick resolution.

There are also a number of excellent non-profit organziations that are dedicated to privacy, most notably EPIC and the Electronic Frontier Foundation. If you cannot resolve an issue with a firm that has broader implications for privacy rights, you might want to bring it to their attention.

Federal Trade Commission Privacy Site

U.S. Justice Department