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U.S.: Drug Office Ends Tracking of Web Users

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/00/06/biztech/articles/22net.html

Drug Office Ends Tracking of Web Users

White House Admits Privacy Concerns

By MARC LACEY

WASHINGTON, June 21 -- The White House conceded today that it might have violated federal privacy guidelines, and it ordered its Office of National Drug Control Policy to stop using a software device that tracks computer users who view the government's antidrug advertisements on the Internet.

To monitor traffic on its Internet sites for children and parents, the White House's drug policy office has employed computer files known as cookies, which are placed in computers electronically -- usually without the knowledge of users -- to monitor their Internet travels.

The software is widely used by commercial Web sites to record information about the shopping habits and other interests of their users. But White House officials said they saw a distinction between companies tracking customers and the government doing similar monitoring.

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