Lawmaker wants ISPs to get customer approval before tracking

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Key lawmaker wants ISPs to get customer approval before tracking their Web activities

Your postal carrier can't open your mail then sell information about your interests to marketers. So some lawmakers and privacy advocates argue that Internet service providers shouldn't be able to do the same thing with the digital packets that describe your Web-surfing activities -- unless you specifically say it's OK.

That was the clear message this morning at a House hearing during which several lawmakers grilled the chief executive of NebuAd, a Silicon Valley startup that helps ISPs deliver targeted ads by tracking users' online footprints.

NebuAd allows users to opt out of the service after they're informed of it by their ISP in their billing statement or an e-mail, CEO Robert Dykes said. But that wasn't good enough for Rep. Edward J. Markey, chairman of the House subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet, and four other subcommittee members.

"That’s basically saying silence is consent and as a result you can do whatever you want with their information," Markey told Dykes after aggressive questioning about the company's policies. “I don’t think, unless you’ve got clear affirmative permission, that you should be able to take this incredible leap into the breaching of the privacy of Americans."

LA Times