Failure to provide notice and an opportunity to opt-out of receiving such solicitations would amount to an offence.
However, if a company has a pre-existing business relationship with the consumer, it would not be subject to this proposed regulation.
William Malcolm, a data protection specialist with Masons, the international law firm behind OUT-LAW.COM, commented:
"Whilst the US has not gone for an all-encompassing privacy law, this is yet more evidence of the US authorities' drive towards forcing US companies to take customer privacy seriously. Companies trading in the US need to consider critically reviewing their approach to privacy in order to stay one step ahead of regulators."
The proposed rulemaking would implement the affiliate marketing provisions in the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, which adds a new section to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA).
This latest move towards increased consumer privacy, announced yesterday, coincided with news that the FTC is about to bring more privacy-related cases against web site operators.
One action is expected in the coming weeks against an as-yet-unnamed company that changed its privacy policy retrospectively, allowing it to share personally identifiable information when it previously promised not to, according to a report at CNET News.com.