Deborah Platt Majoras, the agency's Republican chairman, said she prefers relying on a combination of existing laws, vigorous competition and user pressure to address complaints about new products or potentially worrisome uses of technology.

For proof, look no further than a situation in September in which hundreds of thousands of people who use the popular social-networking site Facebook rebelled against a new feature that some charged was Big Brother-esque, Majoras said. Within days, the site's founder had quieted some of the fury by giving people the option of turning off the "minifeed," which shows people whenever someone in their network makes a change to their relationship status, favorite music or other profile information.

"On the Internet, consumers appear to reign supreme, and they can be very powerful and tough customers," Majoras told an audience of about 300 people in a morning speech here that kicked off a series of public hearings hosted by the FTC.

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