Tech firms' privacy measures may get FTC scrutiny

The FTC's agreements last year with social networks, the first of their kind, require the companies to put into place comprehensive privacy programs monitored by independent auditors for 10 years in Twitter's case and 20 for Google and Facebook. The Facebook settlement, reached last month, capped off a 2011 notable for the government's aggressiveness in responding to privacy concerns. Brill arrived in Silicon Valley during a week when privacy concerns were in the news, thanks to Google's unveiling of new search features that link the service more directly to Google+, its fledgling social network. [...] rival "do not track" schemes under development are not linked, so a person who opts out of sharing personal data using one method may still be tracked using other means.