Released: November 02, 2006

FTC asked to probe online ad profiling

Source: Ellen Nakashima, Washington Post (Free Registration)

Two consumer advocacy groups asked the Federal Trade Commission yesterday to investigate online advertising practices of Internet companies, asserting that the practices violate consumer privacy.

In a 50-page complaint, the D.C.-based Center for Digital Democracy and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group outlined online consumer tracking and profiling systems that they said are “deceptive and unfair to millions of users.”

“Our online travels are increasingly becoming part of vast databases that comprise the source material for sophisticated analytical engines designed solely to make us more susceptible to online marketing,” the complaint said.

The groups asked the FTC to investigate Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and other online companies and software firms, which they said were “aggressively” building new tools to analyze and classify consumers’ behavior across the Internet and other digital media - computers, cellphones, video games and televisions.

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