The US advertising industry is worried that the FCC regulator will push through laws that will make it possible for users to opt out of media tracking that they are trying to pull together a voluntary industry agreement.

The moves have come as Microsoft announced that its new version of Internet Exploder will ship with a button that will kill off any advertising tracking. Under the voluntary agreement being drawn up, consumers edit data about themselves or opt out of online data collection entirely.

The Better Advertising Project's Open Data Partnership, will launch next month. According to a press release consumers will be able to gain access to and edit their information directly from an ad impression or publisher site that uses Better Advertising's Assurance Platform without the need to visit each company site individually. An advertising icon of a lowercase "i" in a triangle will direct users to more information about online data collection.

The advertising industry wants to remain “self-regulated” and the fear is that if the FCC presses ahead with its moves that will be undermined. Initial participants in the partnership include 33Across, Bizo, BlueKai, Demdex, eXelate, Lotame, SafeCount and Turn.

A partnership spokesperson said Google and Yahoo "have been in touch" with the group, but referred eCRM Guide to the companies for further comment.