Internet Firm Says It Targeted Ads To Customers' Web-Surfing Habits

I'm afraid I'm going to have to send you all off this weekend with one of those "Big Brother is Watching You" stories. Isn't it bad enough to know that our phone calls and emails are being monitored by the government with the help of telecom companies we send checks to every month?!

Now I find this little story about an internet service provider called Embarq that has been caught eavesdropping on the web surfing habits of 26,000 customers in Kansas without notifying them personally first (yes, they provided an opt-out notice that nearly no one would ever come across).

Why would a company commit such a privacy violation of its patrons? To test part of its new, controversial advertising technology that profiles users of course!

Thankfully they were caught, and Congress, in particular the Telecom subcommittee, watchdog groups and law professors are questioning whether this technology violates federal privacy laws, including the wiretapping statute.

The Washington Post Reports:

"I am still troubled by the company's failure to directly inform their consumers of the consumer data gathering test and the notion that an 'opt out' option is a sufficient standard for such sweeping data gathering," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet.

The test in Gardner, Kan., used deep-packet inspection technology provided by the Silicon Valley company NebuAd. When installed in an Internet service provider's network, the technology permits a window into potentially all of a consumer's online activity, from Web surfing and search terms to any unencrypted Web communication.

Wired Magazine also covered the story:

"Charter, Embarq and NebuAd all say the technology is legal since they only classify web pages and web searches into categories such as "shopping for SUV" -- rather than storing the webstream. NebuAd pays ISPs to let it monitor user's web surfing and searching in order to classify their interests. Those profiles are then used to deliver targeted ads when the users visit NebuAd partner sites. Subscribers must choose to opt-out with each browser they use, though NebuAd won't explain how the opt-out works."

...

"While I am pleased that Embarq chose to answer our specific questions in their second letter, I am still troubled by the company's failure to directly inform their consumers of the consumer data gathering test and the notion that an 'opt-out' option is a sufficient standard for such sweeping data gathering," Markey said.

The letter (.pdf) comes just two days after the company attempted in a Monday letter to justify, rather than explain, the trial to powerful House Commerce members, who have already shown they are highly dubious of any ISP's plan to monitor its customers' web usage for profit. According to one congressional aide, the follow-up letter came after staff made it clear the first letter didn't suffice.

The three have already forced Charter Communications to cancel its proposed trial of ISP eavesdropping technology from a NebuAd, the same company that powered Embarq's secret test.

Click here to read the rest of the article in Wired.