Kerry and McCain will introduce their online privacy bill today

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) will introduce their bill to protect online--and offline--privacy Tuesday.

S. 325, The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011, establishes a framework to protect the personal information of all Americans both online and offline. A draft of the bill has been circulating for several weeks.

Kerry signaled last summer the bill was coming. The Commerce Department has recommended the Bill of Rights approach. Commerce General Counsel Cameron Kerry, John Kerry's brother, was one of the lead players in formulating that approach.

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A coalition of privacy advocates including Consumer Watchdog, the Center for Digital Democracy, and Consumer Action, said Tuesday that the bill needs to be "significantly strengthened" before they could support it.

THE LEDE: Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) will finally unveil his long-awaited commercial privacy bill at a Tuesday lunchtime press conference on Capitol Hill. Kerry will be joined by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), signaling the effort will likely garner significant bipartisan cooperation at a time when the drumbeat for privacy legislation continues to get louder in both chambers.

The Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011 will likely codify how companies must handle consumers' data and give the Federal Trade Commission authority to enforce those requirements. Watch for a mandatory op-out procedure for online targeted advertising, another likely addition opposed by some Web firms. Stay tuned for full coverage on Hillicon Tuesda