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Monday, January 23, 2006
Dozens of federal
agencies in the US track Web visitors illegally
Is this news?
Dozens of federal agencies
are tracking visits to U.S. government Web sites in violation of long-standing
rules designed to protect online privacy, a CNET News.com investigation shows (http://news.com.com/2100-1028_3-6018702.html).
From the Air Force to the
Treasury Department, government agencies are using either "Web bugs" or
permanent cookies to monitor their visitors' behavior, even though federal law
restricts the practice.
Some departments changed
their practices this week after being contacted by CNET News.com. The Pentagon
said it wasn't aware that its popular Defenselink.mil portal tracked
visitors--in violation of a privacy notice--and said it would fix the problem.
So did the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and the U.S. Chemical Safety and
Hazard Investigation Board. "We were not aware of the cookies set to expire in
2016," a Pentagon representative said Wednesday. "All of the cookies we had set
with WebTrends were to be strictly (temporary) cookies, and we are taking
immediate action." WebTrends is a commercial Web-monitoring service.
Some examples:
Agency Name Cookie Type
Expires Hostname
---------------------------------------------------------
Air Force Webtrends.com 2016
af.mil
Commerce Department
Statcounter.com 2011 ogc.doc.gov
Defense Department
Webtrends.com 2016 defenselink.mil
Election Assist. Comm. Own
2007 eac.gov
Energy Department
Statcounter.com 2011 www.er.doe.gov
General Services Admin. Own
2035 apps.fss.gsa.gov
Office of Personnel Mgmt Own
2037 leadership.opm.gov
Treasury Department Own 2035
ots.treas.gov
http://www.politechbot.com/2006/01/05/dozens-of-federal
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