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"It appears to [FTC] staff that DoubleClick never used or disclosed consumers' PII [personal identifying information] for purposes other than those disclosed in its privacy policy," wrote FTC official Joel Winston January 23 in a letter to DoubleClick lead attorney Christine Varney. "Specifically, it appears that DoubleClick did not combine PII from Abacus Direct with clickstream collected on client web sites. In addition, it appears that DoubleClick has not used sensitive data for any online preference marketing product, in contravention of its stated privacy policy," the FTC wrote.

"DoubleClick remains committed to ensuring the highest level of online consumer privacy, both within our company and throughout the industry," said DoubleClick CEO Kevin Ryan, in a statement.

The FTC started its investigation after DoubleClick's proposed merger with Abacus troubled privacy activists. The FTC also urged DoubleClick to follow through on privacy-protection pledges, such as making it clearer to users how they can opt out of DoubleClick's data collection. The company still has no plans to offer consumers access to the records it keeps on them, as is the case for credit reporting agencies.

Several class action privacy violation lawsuits are still pending against the online advertising giant. And despite the clean bill of health from the FTC, DoubleClick and other would-be profilers may yet find themselves facing more than just the voluntary guidelines currently in place for safeguarding consumers. With several privacy bills being debated on Capitol Hill, legislation is seen as inevitable during the forthcoming session.

Last week, the American Electronics Association, the nation's largest high-tech trade association, dropped its opposition to such a measure, encouraging its members to educate lawmakers.

"While we are encouraged to see that legislators from both parties are beginning to examine the impact of such regulation on the internet economy, more education among policy makers needs to be undertaken to fully understand the impact of legislation and to avoid any unintended consequences that may follow," said AEA president and CEO William T. Archey.