The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to make a major ruling on data privacy and digital surveillance, an area that it has long imposed on a case by case but has reached a crisis point that it believes needs to be addressed more comprehensively. Announcing today is only the first step in what could be a multi-year process, but is now better than not, which until recently seemed to have been the preferred schedule.

 Today's announcement is "advanced notice of proposed rule-making," with the agency essentially saying "we are considering this matter seriously and are seeking public input on the idea." There are no actual proposed rules; Instead, there is an extensive list of questions the agency hopes to answer in the rule-writing process, and everyone from ordinary consumers to advocacy organizations like the EFF and ACLU are encouraged to consider them.

 Some questions may be more relevant to legal experts (such as the statute or mechanism to be used in enforcement) while others need more anecdotal or grassroots responses, such as whether children and adolescents are vulnerable and/or targeted by data practices specific manipulation.