Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jun 2000
Source: Arizona Daily Star (AZ)
Copyright: 2000 Pulitzer Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.azstarnet.com/
Author: Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service

DRUG AGENCY TO PLANT 'COOKIES' TO FOLLOW NET USERS

WASHINGTON - The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy has 
taken its anti-drug message to the Internet, and it is secretly tracking 
those who find it in the process.

Search for drug terms like "grow pot" on some Internet sites, and an ad 
banner that pops up from the drug office may drop a "cookie" program in 
your computer that tracks your online activities.

"It's sort of spooky," said Internet consultant Richard Smith.

But despite what one critic called "Big Brother" tactics, the White House 
drug office says there's nothing surreptitious going on. The computer 
cookies are simply tracking its anti-drug media campaign.

"Cookies" are personal identifiers used to track the Web sites that 
computer users visit and what they buy. They identify Internet surfers by 
the service they are using to get access to the Internet, and can be 
matched with other information online to provide personal identification. 
Cookies are secretly inserted in personal computers when surfers visit 
certain Web sites.

Smith said he inadvertently discovered the U.S. government cookies being 
dropped into his computer while doing Internet research for pharmaceutical 
companies.

White House ads offering information on marijuana pop up when Internet 
users search for certain words connected to drugs on Internet search 
engines like AltaVista or Lycos. The banner ads steer users to the 
anti-drug site Freevibe.com, which is operated by the White House drug 
office. A tracking cookie is inserted in the user's personal computer as 
the site is activated.

Although Freevibe's privacy notice states "no information, including your 
e-mail address, will be sold or distributed to any other organization," the 
site is connected to Doubleclick.com. Officials of Doubleclick, a New York 
advertising firm that is one of the largest companies gathering data on 
Internet user use, told the Senate Commerce Committee last week it is 
developing new products that will profile more than 40 million Internet users.

Freevibe's site says the White House drug office will collect the e-mail 
address "only so we can identify your submission." It does not disclose 
that it will drop a cookie program in the personal computers of visitors to 
the site.

Donald Maple of the White House drug office said the cookie programs are 
part of the banner advertising campaign run through the New York 
advertising firm Ogilvie and Mather. He said the government is not getting 
personal information on site visitors.

Maple admitted one of the anti-drug sites operated by the White House drug 
office and visited by 240,000 parents a month seeking information on drug 
abuse is itself inserting cookies into the computers of visitors. He said 
the drug office was unaware of this until a reporter pointed it out, and 
yesterday ordered the contractor to disable the program.
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