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. - --- MAP posted-by: Allan Wilkinson