M$'s advertising is a threat to privacy

[Alpine]

Pressure groups call for investigation

TECHNOLOGY used by Microsoft to look at user behaviour are a threat to privacy and must be stopped, according to two US pressure groups.


The Public Interest Research Group and the Centre for Digital Democracy have complained to the Federal Trade Commission in a bid to stop Vole, and other software outfits, using web tracking systems.

The groups fear what they call a growing online business model dependent on technologies that aggressively track punters and creating data profiles.

A 50 page complaint says that punters are not informed of these technologies and techniques, including data gathering and mining, audience targeting and tracking and can drown in a sea of techno-babble where only the advertiser wins.

The complaint says that companies know enough about users to track every move they make, even if they don't have what is considered normal personal data such as name, address and phone numbers.

It seems Vole is the biggest offender and should be the first targeted by any FTC action, the complaint says. The Volista has dismissed the allegations, saying it is committed to protecting consumers' privacy and spells out policies for all of its services in a "unified privacy statement" on its Web site.

The INQuirer