Congressmen voice concerns over Charter's Internet tracking

By Scott Zoback

We're all used to them: the contextual ads on Google or Yahoo or any other site that are "customized" to you based on what you're browsing. It's why you see an ad for plane flights when you send an e-mail on Gmail to a friend about an upcoming trip.

But what if even more of the ads you see were tracked to your Web habits?

Earlier this month, Charter Communications sent a letter to Internet subscribers in Oxford that touted an enhancement to their high-speed Internet service. That "enhancement" is a new business relationship between Charter and a company called NebuAd. Essentially, Charter will track every site a user visits on the Internet, sell the data to NebuAd, which will then use it to show ads customized to the user.

Oxford is one of four markets nationwide being used as a testing ground for the program.

Congressman Edward Markey.

According to Charter's Web site, that enhancement "enables Charter to provide ... an enhanced online experience that is more customized to your interests and activities. As a result of this service, the advertising you typically see online will better reflect the interests you express through your Web-surfing activity. You will not see more ads — just ads that are more relevant to you."

But while Charter calls the new ads an "enhancement," Massachusetts Congressman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and other like-minded experts have raised serious privacy concerns. Markey and fellow Congressman Joseph Barton (R-Texas) have asked Charter to hold off on the plans for now, citing "substantial questions."

The problem is, unlike Google's tracking of a user's searches or e-mail conversations, the Charter plan intercepts the data being transmitted over their lines, allowing the company to make a more complete behavioral picture. Charter says that makes the ads more relevant and meaningful; critics say it smacks of confidentiality violations. It's not just about selling to advertisers, critics say. If broadband providers stake a claim on owning that data, how far can they go with it, and who has control over it?

Still, both Charter and NebuAd have said they are maintaining customers' privacy and that specific user information will remain anonymous. "... [It's] designed to collect and store only anonymous information that cannot be used by anyone to identify you. The original data on which your online activity is based — such as historical logs of Web pages visited, search queries used, and ads clicked on by an individual — is not stored," the Web site FAQ reads.

For those concerned, Charter has offered subscribers a chance to opt-out. o