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Firm Tracking Consumers on Web for Drug Companies
Firm Tracking Consumers on Web for Drug Companies
By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday , August 15, 2000
; E01
A Boston technology firm is surreptitiously tracking computer u=
sers across the Internet on behalf of pharmaceutical companies, a practic=
e that demonstrates the limits of a recent agreement to protect the priva=
cy of Web surfers.
By invisibly placing ID codes on computers that =
visit its clients' World Wide Web sites, Pharmatrak Inc. can record consu=
mers' activity when they alight on thousands of pages maintained by 11 ph=
armaceutical companies. For example, the company can tell when the same c=
omputers download information about HIV, a prescription drug or a company=
's profits from different sites.
Pharmatrak officials say the infor=
mation they collect about browsing habits enables participating drug comp=
anies to compare and improve their Web sites. They don't collect names an=
d don't intend to, they say.
But they claim they can predict whethe=
r visitors are consumers, physicians, journalists or government officials=
, based on where they come from and what they access.
And the compa=
ny's Web site also suggests that it has plans to identify people. "In the=
future, we may develop products and services which collect data that, wh=
en used in conjunction with the tracking database, could enable a direct =
identification of certain individual visitors," it says, adding that they=
would never take advantage of such information.
Industry and feder=
al officials applauded last month's agreement by DoubleClick, Engage and =
other online advertising services to give computer users more choice abou=
t when they're monitored. But Pharmatrak doesn't have to abide by the agr=
eement because it isn't an advertiser.
Privacy advocates complain t=
he company is acting inappropriately by monitoring computer users, with n=
o notification, as they browse through sensitive health-care information.=
"It's all hidden and it's across Web sites," Richard M. Smith, a s=
oftware engineer and chief technology officer of the Privacy Foundation, =
a nonprofit group in Denver, said of Pharmatrak's activities. "It's getti=
ng very close to that line of what nice people don't do."
Michigan'=
s attorney general's office has warned G.D. Searle & Co., a part of P=
harmacia Corp., that it faces a lawsuit for allowing Pharmatrak to monito=
r computer users without proper notification.
"They've taken stealt=
h to a new low. . . . It is a classic example of corporate surveillance,"=
said Michigan Attorney General Jennifer M. Granholm. "There's no way you=
r average computer user has any idea."
Pharmacia spokeswoman Claudi=
a R. Kovitz said Pharmacia treats information about visitors with great c=
are and does not receive any personally identifiable information from Pha=
rmatrak. She acknowledged that Pharmacia Web sites did not post privacy p=
olicies until late last month and still do not mention Pharmatrak.
=
"As Internet technology rapidly advances, and as legal and ethical guidel=
ines evolve, we have been developing, and will continue to develop, incre=
asingly comprehensive privacy policies based on best practices in our fie=
ld," she said.
Michael Sonnenreich, Pharmatrak founder and chief ex=
ecutive, said people worried about privacy can set their browsers to aler=
t them to Pharmatrak "cookies"--small strings of computer code that serve=
as a unique identifier. "If they file a suit like that, they are idiots,=
" he said about the threatened action by Michigan authorities. People sho=
uld know "they're using an open access means of communication."
So=
nnenreich, a D.C. resident and Washington Opera board member, added: "We =
are absolutely rock solid protecting the integrity and privacy of these p=
eople."
Pharmatrak officials acknowledge they do not post privacy p=
olicies at client Web sites stating how the company collects and uses inf=
ormation. But they said there's no need because they don't have the techn=
ical ability or intention to collect names. The company recently acknowle=
dged on its Web site that it sets "cookies."
Virtually unknown out=
side the drug industry, Pharmatrak is a subsidiary of Sonnenreich's holdi=
ng company, Glocal Communications Ltd. Glocal also owns Agritrak, a fledg=
ling operation that will provide similar services to "agri-biotech" compa=
nies.
Pharmatrak relies on the same sort of techniques to tag compu=
ters that created controversy for Internet advertising services. It place=
s "cookies" on users' computers from a distance through software code on =
Web pages called a "Web bug"--a process that is invisible unless a browse=
r is specifically set to alert a user.
Sonnenreich said the compan=
y shares the information it collects in aggregate monthly reports to Pfiz=
er Inc., Pharmacia, SmithKline Beecham PLC, Glaxo Wellcome PLC, Aventis P=
harmaceuticals Inc., Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp., American Home Produc=
ts Corp., Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. and three other drug companies that have=
agreed to collaborate.
Sonnenreich said the company can help clien=
ts compare how computer users behave at their Web sites relative to those=
operated by competitors.
"Determining, for example, whether the g=
reatest number of visitors come from Europe, Asia or the U.S, and whether=
they are principally from government, academia, or other commercial orga=
nizations will show whether a company is reaching its designated target a=
udiences efficiently," Pharmatrak's Web site says.
"Equally, a sud=
den drop or increase over time from a particular audience such as a gover=
nment body is a signal well worth heeding."
The company offers an a=
rray of other services, including one called Netwatcher. Using a sophisti=
cated search engine, Netwatcher scours the Web for any mention of client =
companys' executives, products and financial matters.
The search i=
s far more powerful than Yahoo and Google, relying on thousands of keywor=
ds to root out information, company officials said. For now, Pharmatrak f=
ocuses on material posted to Web sites. In the future, it may also sift =
through online chat rooms.
Company officials compared their word ma=
tching program to systems operated by the National Security Agency and th=
e Central Intelligence Agency. "It's a customized intelligence search eng=
ine," Sonnenreich said. "I'm sure the government does the same thing."
Sonnenreich declined to share details. But he said companies have use=
d the reports to respond to remarks made about a company executive and it=
s products. In the future, companies will be able to follow up on rumors =
circulated by competitors, or protests planned by groups such as Greenpea=
ce or the Sierra Club, he said.
"Any negative reports that appear o=
n the Internet are highlighted early enough to allow the company to recti=
fy the situation before the issue becomes a full-blown problem requiring =
the services of the legal department," the company literature says.
Janlori Goldman, director of the Health Privacy Project at Georgetown Un=
iversity, is not comforted by the company's reassurances. She worries tha=
t such stealthy scrutiny will dissuade people from using the Web to find =
out helpful information about health care. "This is analogous to h=
aving hidden cameras and spies tracking people's movements and communicat=
ion on the Web," Goldman said. "The lack of privacy rules on the Web is t=
he number one barrier to people getting better health-care information, b=
ecause they're afraid."
=
© 2000 The Washington Post Company