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Delivered-To: clips@philodox.com
Date: Sun, 1 Jan 2006 08:19:48 -0500
To: Philodox Clips List
From: "R. A. Hettinga"
Subject: [Clips] White House Investigates Contractor's Web Tracking
Reply-To: rah@philodox.com
Sender: clips-bounces@philodox.com
http://online.wsj.com/article_print/SB113591186547934467.html
The Wall Street Journal
White House Investigates
Contractor's Web Tracking
Associated Press
December 29, 2005 10:27 p.m.
NEW YORK -- Unbeknown to the Bush administration, an outside contractor has
been using Internet tracking technologies that may be prohibited to analyze
usage and traffic patterns at the White House's Web site, an official said
Thursday.
David Almacy, the White House's Internet director, promised an
investigation into whether the practice is consistent with a 2003 policy
from the White House's Office of Management and Budget banning the use of
most such technologies at government sites.
"No one even knew it was happening," Mr. Almacy said. "We're going to work
with the contractor to ensure that it's consistent with the OMB policy."
An official with the contractor, WebTrends Inc., said later Thursday,
however, that although a cookie may be used, no data from it is actually
sent back to the company.
The development came a day after the National Security Agency admitted it
had erred in using banned "cookies" at its Web site. Cookies are small data
files that can be used to track Internet users. The acknowledgments
followed inquiries by The Associated Press.
The White House's Web site uses what's known as a Web bug to anonymously
keep track of who's visiting and when. A Web bug is essentially a tiny
graphic image -- a dot, really -- that's virtually invisible. In this case,
the bug is pulled from a server maintained by WebTrends and lets the
traffic analytic company know that another person has visited a specific
page on the site.
Web bugs themselves are not prohibited.
But when these bugs are linked to a cookie -- so that a site can tell if
the same person has visited again -- a federal agency using them must
demonstrate a "compelling need," get a senior official's signoff and
disclose such usage, said Peter Swire, a Clinton administration official
who helped draft the original rules.
The White House's privacy policy does not specifically mention cookies or
Web bugs, and Mr. Almacy said the signoff was never sought because one was
not thought to be required. He said his team was first informed of the
cookie use by the AP.
But Jason Palmer, vice president of product management for Portland,
Ore.-based WebTrends, insisted the cookies are not used in such manner.
Cookies from the White House site are not generated simply by visiting it,
according to analyses by the AP and by Richard M. Smith, a security
consultant in Cambridge, Mass., who first noticed the Web bug this week.
Rather, WebTrends cookies are sometimes created when visiting other
WebTrends clients. Mr. Smith said his analysis of network traffic shows
such preexisting cookies have then been used to recognize visitors to the
White House site.
But WebTrends officials say they do not aggregate information about
visitors across multiple sites. Mr. Almacy said it's possible the cookie
resulted from the White House visit, adding he was awaiting further details
from WebTrends.
Mr. Palmer said the browsers are designed to pull pre-existing cookies
automatically, and that the company has no choice in the matter. But he
insisted the company doesn't use the information.
In any case, Mr. Almacy said, no personal data are collected.
In a statement, WebTrends added that the analysis performed at the White
House site is typical among organizations for improving user experience.
The Clinton administration first issued the strict rules on cookies in 2000
after its Office of National Drug Control Policy, through a contractor, had
used the technology to track computer users viewing its online antidrug
advertising. The rules were updated in 2003 by the Bush administration.
Although no personal information was collected at the time, Mr. Swire said,
concerns were raised that one site's data could be linked later with those
from the contractor's other clients.
"It all could be linked up after the fact, and that was enough to lead to
the federal policy," Mr. Swire said.
Nonetheless, agencies occasionally violate the rules inadvertently. The CIA
did in 2002, and the NSA more recently. The NSA disabled the cookies this
week and blamed a recent upgrade to software that shipped with cookie
settings already on.
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
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R. A. Hettinga
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation http://www.ibuc.com/
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'