InternetHouse Committee Broadens Online Privacy Probe

Lawmakers send letter calling on nearly three dozen Internet service and content provider to detail their behavioral targeting practices.

A key House committee is expanding its probe into the privacy implications of the behavioral targeting of online advertising, calling on more than 30 leading Internet companies to detail how they collect information and the steps they take to safeguard consumers' identities. The leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote to executives at many of the nation's largest broadband providers and Web companies on Friday, asking for specifics on "the growing trend of companies tailoring Internet advertising based on consumers' Internet search, surfing or other use." The letter comes as the latest step in the escalating scrutiny among lawmakers into the practice of behavioral ad targeting. Most recently, the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet held a hearing focusing on the controversial practice of deep-packet inspection, or DPI, a technique the ad firm NebuAd has been using in partnership with Internet service providers to improve targeting. In that hearing, Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey (D-Mass) likened the practice to the post office opening individuals' mail, and lambasted NebuAd CEO Bob Dykes for not structuring the system so that users would have to opt in for their information to be collected. Dykes has repeatedly insisted that NebuAd's technology does not collect any information that can be traced to an individual's identity. RELATED ARTICLES NebuAd Grilled on the Hill Again Senators, Tech Giants Seek Answers on Privacy The... [ Read more on www.internetnews.com ]

InternetAmazon.com To Buy Online Bookseller AbeBooks (TechWeb)

TechWeb - InformationWeek - Amazon said it plans to have the seller of out-of-print books continue as a standalone operation based in Victoria, British Columbia.

InternetCongress Questions Network Data-Collection Methods (NewsFactor)

NewsFactor - Congress wants to know: How do search engines use your personal data? The House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent out letters on Friday to major network companies asking them, among other things, how they use personal tracking data to serve up those highly targeted ads.