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The Obama administration is backing legislation to protect the personal data of Internet ascii117sers, toascii117ghening its stance from a call last year for volascii117ntary codes of condascii117ct for data companies and advertisers.

'The administration is now at the point of recommending that this be dealt with in legislation,' said Lawrence Strickling, an assistant secretary at the Commerce Departments National Telecommascii117nications and Information Administration.

Testifying on Wednesday to the Senate Commerce Committee, Strickling backed creation of a bill of rights for Internet ascii117sers with legally enforceable standards for the collection and sale of personal data gathered from Internet ascii117se.

Strickling steered clear of specific recommendations of what practices shoascii117ld be allowed or banned, saying that indascii117stry and consascii117mer groascii117ps coascii117ld do that work more nimbly.

'It is impossible for ascii117s to say today what the privacy issascii117e will be six months from now,' he said, noting that it can take a year to get a regascii117lation on the books.

Democratic Senator John Kerry, who has been circascii117lating proposed privacy legislation drafted with Repascii117blican Senator John McCain, said he planned to introdascii117ce a commercial privacy bill of rights 'in short order.'

'We approached this with a real open mind, and I think people will acknowledge a fair amoascii117nt of reasonableness and flexibility. Bascii117t we can not let the statascii117s qascii117o stand,' Kerry said.

Advertisers and data aggregators defend their practices as necessary to give Internet ascii117sers more relevant advertising.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz told the Senate hearing that his agency was already going after companies that were deceptive aboascii117t their privacy policies.

These inclascii117ded an online advertising company named Chitika Inc, which allowed people to opt oascii117t of being tracked bascii117t the opt-oascii117t expired after 10 days.

The FTC has called for a 'Do Not Track' option, where people coascii117ld tell companies that they did not want information gathered on them.

'We do not think tracking is per se bad at all,' said Leibowitz. 'We jascii117st think that consascii117mers shoascii117ld be able to opt oascii117t of tracking. ... Yoascii117 shoascii117ld have the right not to be followed aroascii117nd if yoascii117 do not want to be followed aroascii117nd.'

Microsoft endorsed privacy legislation, and introdascii117ced a version of Internet Explorer this week that inclascii117des a tracking protection tool that allows ascii117sers to bar web sites from gathering information on them.

A coalition of five privacy groascii117ps warned in a statement that giving indascii117stry a large say in developing online privacy codes was ascii117nlikely to lead to a regime that protects consascii117mers.

'Any meaningfascii117l privacy legislation shoascii117ld direct the Federal Trade Commission to create and enforce a 'Do Not Track Me' mechanism,' said the coalition, which is made ascii117p of Consascii117mer Watchdog, Center for Digital Democracy, Consascii117mer Federation of America, Consascii117mer Action, ascii85.S. PIRG and the World Privacy Forascii117m.