Charter Drops Plan To Sell Surfing Data To Advertisers
ADOTAS – Internet service provider Charter Communications has backed off of its much-maligned peekaboo plan. Charter aimed to track its subscribers Web-surfing habits to sell to interactive advertisers. Charter was slated to fork over the data to start-up NebuAd in a deal that had come under fire from privacy groups, its customers and members of Congress.
NebuAd’s system was created to provide targeted ads to subscribers – it has deals with a handful of smaller cable companies.
“Given the serious privacy concerns raised by the sophisticated ad-serving technology Charter Communications planned to test market, I am pleased to hear that the company has decided to delay implementation of this program, which electronically profiled individual consumer Web usage,” Rep. Edward J. Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, said in a written statement. “I urge other broadband companies considering similar user profiling programs to similarly hold off on implementation while these important privacy concerns can be addressed.”
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