And the findings hardened resolve in Europe to reject the American self-regulatory approach to privacy on line, a dispute that threatened to escalate into the first Internet trade war.

Rather than such a self-regulatory approach, the antispam legislation in the Senate would try to make many deceptive e-mail practices illegal.

There is a precedent for the self-regulatory approach.

Europe, in particular, has offered plenty of resistance to the American self-regulatory approach for handling personal data on the Internet.

The Clinton administration has generally adopted a self-regulatory approach to Internet privacy, though it did endorse online privacy legislation for children, which was passed last fall.

A self-regulatory approach was deemed the most appropriate model for charity fundraising.

European officials rejected American proposals for a self-regulatory approach to corporate use of personal information.

Nor can I fully support a self-regulatory approach to behavioral advertising, which the staff report appears to advocate.

Mr. Plesser and other industry lawyers have also suggested a self-regulatory approach through the establishment of basic rules for companies, which, if followed, would innoculate them from liability.

This may herald a move to a less self-regulatory approach to supervision of the financial services industry.