Congress spotlights another American data pimper

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

________________________________________
From: lynn [lynn () ecgincc com]
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 9:23 AM
To: David Farber
Subject: Congress spotlights another American data pimper

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/07/16/congress_questions_embarq_over_nebuad/

Congress spotlights another American data pimper

By Cade Metz in San Francisco → More by this author
Published Wednesday 16th July 2008 20:52 GMT
How IT Management Can "Green" the Data Center - Free Download

Congressman Ed Markey - chair of the House Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and the Internet - has called out another American ISP
for pimping user data to NebuAd, the Phorm-like behavioral ad targeter.

Yesterday, Markey and fellow Congressional big-wigs John D. Dingell
(chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce) and Joe Barton
(ranking member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce) lobbed an
open letter at the Kansas-based Embarq Corporation, questioning the NebuAd
tests it ran this spring.

Using deep packet inspection, NebuAd tracks the search and browsing
activity of ISP users in an effort to target online advertisements. The
system is opt-out-based, and though Embarq updated its privacy policy to
reflect the tracking of user data during the trials, it's unclear whether
customers were provided with more direct notification.

"Surreptitiously tracking individual users' Internet activity cuts to the
heart of consumer privacy," reads a canned statement from Congressman
Markey. "The information collected through NebuAd's technology can be
highly personal and sensitive information. Embarq's apparent use of this
technology without directly notifying affected customers that their
activity was being tracked, collected, and analyzed raises serious privacy
red flags."

snip

With their open letter, the Congressmen toss nine pointed questions at the
Sprint-spin-off, hoping to understand how those NebuAd trials were
conducted. Embarq has not said where the trials took place or how many
users were affected.

Markey and crew can't help but wonder whether those trials ran afoul of
the Communications Act of 1934, the Cable Act of 1984, the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act, and other wiretapping-related US statutes. In
May, Markey and Barton sent a similar letter to the midwestern ISP Charter
Communications, and early tomorrow morning, Markey's Subcommittee on
Telecommunications and the Internet will convene for a hearing entitled
"What Your Broadband Provider Knows About Your Web Use: Deep Packet
Inspection and Communications Laws and Policies."

snip




-------------------------------------------
Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now
RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/
Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com