Pubdate: Wed, 21 Jun 2000
Source: Commercial Appeal (TN)
Copyright: 2000 The Commercial Appeal
Contact:  Box 334, Memphis, TN 38101
Fax: (901)529-6445
Website: http://www.gomemphis.com/
Author: Lance Gay Scripps Howard News Service

WHITE HOUSE ORDERS DRUG OFFICE: HANDS OUT OF THE 'COOKIE'
JAR

WASHINGTON - The White House said Wednesday that its drug office has
been ordered to stop secretly collecting information on people who
visit its anti-drug Internet sites.

"We will take steps necessary to halt these practices now," the White
House said in a statement released through the press office. The
statement said that contractors working with the White House Office of
National Drug Control Policy also have been directed to destroy all
information collected clandestinely from visitors to the anti-drug
sites

The statement said that the White House learned for the first time
Wednesday that the drug office was collecting information from users
of the anti-drug Web sites through the use of "cookies," which are
inserted into the computers of individuals when they visit the sites.
(The practice was revealed in a Scripps Howard News Service story.)

Cookies are identifiers that are inserted into the hard drives of
Internet users as they surf the Web, and are normally used by
advertising companies to track Internet computer users. But as the
White House noted, "cookies can also be used to collect personal data
about Web site users."

The White House drug office employed the cookie technology to
determine what advertisements were drawing people to the their Web
sites, www.freevibe.com and www.theantidrug.com. The agency says that
more than 500,000 youths a month are visiting its Freevibe site, which
provides anti-drug messages for young people, and about 250,000 a
month are visiting theantidrug.com, which is a site providing drug
information to parents of teenagers.

The cookies were delivered as part of an advertising contract between
the White House and the New York advertising firm Ogilvie and Mather.
In addition, theantidrug.com site was issuing cookies on its own to
visitors, and blamed a contractor who set up the computer system for
the problem.

"At no time has ONDCP (the drug office) requested or received any
personally identifiable information based on the use of 'cookies,' "
the White House statement said.
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