Robert OHarrow: Officials Fear Plague of 'Web Bugs'

[James Love <love@cptech.org>]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/business/A58127-1999Nov12.html

Officials Fear Plague of 'Web Bugs'
By Robert OHarrow Jr.
 Washington Post Staff Writer
     Saturday, November  13, 1999; Page E1  

In a scramble to monitor the behavior of consumers online, marketing
companies on the World Wide Web have begun deploying a virtually
invisible tool that records activity at a site and reports the details
to advertisers and others.

The tool, sometimes called a Web bug, is a modest code that can identify
a particular computer and help advertising services far removed from the
site determine whether electronic promotions are well read and effective
in prompting someone to buy a product.

   [snip]


-- 
James Love, love@cptech.org
Consumer Project on Technology
http://www.cptech.org
202.387.8030, fax 202.234.5176