Ma Bell Wants To See Which Ads You’re Clicking
ADOTAS – AT&T is considering monitoring the Web-surfing activities of customers who use its Internet service, according to a report in The New York Times. The company seems particularly interested in tracking users’ display ad viewing habits.
As of yet, the company hasn’t systematically tracked users’ online behavior, but it wants to, AT&T said in a letter to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. However, the company said it would only track users who “opt in” to the program.
The House committee began investigation targeted advertising after a host of reports emerged about ISPs that were preparing the sell their user data to NebuAd. The committee sent 33 letters to ISPs requesting information on their tracking policies. Most (32) have responded and the big guns – including Time Warner, Verizon, Comcast and AOL – have all said they don’t and won’t track surfing behavior on sites they don’t specifically run.
AT&T is rationalizing the potential tracking by pointing the finger at Google’s tracking methods, the Times reports.
“Advertising network operators such as Google have evolved beyond merely tracking consumer Web surfing activity on sites for which they have a direct ad-serving relationship. They now have the ability to observe a user’s entire Web browsing experience at a granular level,” Dorothy Attwood, the company’s senior vice president for public policy, wrote in AT&T’s letter to the committee.
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