US privacy groups yesterday called on Congress to investigate the
use by the Clinton administration of cookies as part of a campaign
against illegal drugs, following an admission by the White House
that it had used tracking devices to collect drug related
information on internet users.
The investigation was requested in an open letter by
representatives of the Electronic Privacy Information Centre (EPIC)
and Junkbusters Corp., a company that offers services to limit
‘junk communications’.
The Office of National Drug Control Policy is alleged to have
used cookies to monitor user activity on a particular web site in
breach of the White House privacy policy and the Privacy Act 1974.
In addition, the letter to Congress demands investigation into the
use of tracking devices by other federal agencies because,
according to Marc Rotenberg, executive director of EPIC,
“monitoring citizens’ use of government web sites raises profound
privacy and constitutional concerns”.
Doubleclick, the company that provided the cookie technology
used by the US government, has also come under fire, with privacy
advocates demanding that all data collected relating to
individuals’ use of drug-related sites be destroyed. However,
Doubleclick has defended its role in the incident by stating that
“no personally identifiable data about visitors were given to the
government”.
