Internet Provider Halts Plan to Track, Sell Users' Surfing Data
By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 25, 2008; D01
Charter Communications, the fourth-largest cable operator in the United States, announced yesterday that it has backed off a plan to monitor customers' Internet transmissions.
The company had been planning to harvest the stream of data from each Internet customer for clues to their interests and then make money from advertisers who would use the information to target online pitches.
The data-collection effort would have protected personal information, Charter officials said in describing the plan, but critics likened the practice to wiretapping.
"The fact is that it would have allowed profiling of an individual -- where they were going and what they were doing online, and there was no guarantee that this information could not ultimately be compromised," said Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on telecommunications and the Internet. "They made the right decision in halting their test."
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