After years of hearing promises from the Internet industry about self-regulation in protecting consumer privacy, the Federal Trade Commission last week said it’s time for a law. After hearing the same promises, the Federal Communications Commission said it’s time for more self regulation.

The split demonstrates how different things look when seen from different vantage points. In this case, the agency with a mission to promote fair and honest trade has the correct view.

The security of personal information has been a concern of Internet users from the start. It became a major concern with the development of e-retail and the necessity for users to provide credit-card and other information to complete a transaction. But the selling of personal information by the Internet sites that collect it has proven to more profitable than selling merchandise. It also is, according to survey after survey, the main reason shoppers browse but don’t buy when they go online, which is the main reason e-retailers and the NASDAQ are hurting.

A new report by the FTC finds that fewer than 10 percent of Internet sites that collect personal information display the industry seal that denotes compliance with the industry’s voluntary privacy guidelines. This is a dismal result for a 5-year-old exercise in self-control. A study by the Electronic Privacy Information Center of the 100 most popular shopping Web sites found 18 had no privacy policy whatsoever; none had a privacy policy that contained all the minimum elements of the industry’s rather minimalist self-regulating guidelines.

The FCC, however, continues to believe that market incentives — that is, the wise choices made by wary consumers — will compel the industry to develop and implement protections. That would be the case if consumers were being given the knowledge that leads to wisdom and wariness. Most often, an Internet retailer’s privacy policy consists merely of small print confirming that personal data is being collected, with no further details on how it is used, or to whom it is sold. Worse still, even the most persistent and computer-adept consumer has no way to find out.

The FTC has asked Congress for the authority to regulate online privacy. Unfortunately, it stopped short by suggesting what is known as “opt-out” — the consumer provides the personal information needed to complete a transaction and then has to point and click on the correct (and very tiny) box to prevent its dissemination. If consumer confidence is the problem, this exercise in trying to outwit Web-page designers is hardly the answer.

Fortunately, a bipartisan group of senators, including Democrats Jay Rockefeller and Freitz Hollings and Republican John McCain, are offering a bill that requires true and informed consent — a Web business must clearly state what it intends to do with the information it collectsh and it must get explicit permission from the consumer to sell, swap or share it. If those in the Internet industry as visionary as they claim to be, they’ll take this combination of consumer distrust and threat of government intervention as a sign that on-line privacy is serious business. Otherwise, let the e-retailer beware.