Privacy Groups Step Up Online Ad Warning

Fifteen privacy and public interest groups have come together to urge the US Congress to push forward proposals to limit the growing practice of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) targeting ads to subscribers based on their personal web activities.

Specifically, the consortium has written to House Telecommunications Subcommittee Chairman Ed Markey and Ranking Member Joe Barton expressing concerns about Charter Communications' plan to capture all the messages and activities of its Internet subscribers and share that data with NebuAd, a third-party firm which plans to use the data to target consumers with specific ads.

Markey and Barton have since written to Charter CEO Neil Smith to ask him to delay initiating the pilot program until they can study the privacy implications of the arrangement.

'The eavesdropping and targeting of consumers online by their cable and phone ISPs creates a major new privacy threat,' said Jeff Chester, Executive Director of the Center for Digital Democracy. 'Congress must swiftly act to protect the public - including families - from this unwarranted invasion of their privacy.'

Members of the groups are asking Congress to hold public hearings to examine the practice of sharing data on private activities, noting that other ISPs are also signing similar deals with third-party firms.

Ari Schwartz, VP of the Center for Democracy & Technology, believes that congress needs to bring the practice under closer scrutiny, before it becomes standard operating procedure for ISPs.

Driven by 'Deep Packet Inspection' technology, which allows an ISP to grab information from a user's computer, the data is handed over to the ISP's business partner to be logged and categorized. Ads are then delivered to the consumer based on a customized profile, gleaned from the information gathered by the ISP. Schwartz's group says technology that collects and uses this level of personal and private data, without any opportunity for the consumer to opt out, is unacceptable.

Web sites: www.cdt.org and www.democraticmedia.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.