How is your personal information protected on the Web? The Federal Trade Commission sought to clarify that question this week with the release of updated principles regarding online behavioral advertising.

In 2007, the FTC held a town hall on Web advertising, and issued five proposed principles regarding online advertising.

Those guidelines include: increased transparency and consumer control; reasonable security and limited retention of consumer data; express consent to change existing privacy policies; consent to use sensitive data for behavioral advertising; and a call for additional information on how companies use tracking data for purposes other than behavioral advertising.

The agency solicited public comment on these guidelines and released an updated version on Thursday that tweaks the principles slightly.