WHITE HOUSE DRUG OFFICE ABOUT-FACE

As Congress has been hearing the Federal Trade Commission's proposals for
new Internet privacy standards, the White House has had to review its own
practices.

The president's Office of National Drug Control Policy has Web sites
promoting drug control efforts -- perfectly laudable. But as the
administration was arguing for greater Internet secrecy, its own "bugs"
were found.

According to wire service reports, searching for words such as "grow pot"
on some Internet sites would have a banner ad from the office drop a
"cookie" into the searcher's computer to track the user's online activity.

The White House, once its activities were made public, said it was not
trying to secretly collect info on online users and promised to remove the
"cookie" programs.

But the incident reveals Internet data collection is widespread and can be
ominously used.

For more information on computer users' rights, check out the Center for
Democracy and Technology's Web site, http://www.cdt.org/. Other sites:
http://www.freedom.net/; http://www.anonymizer.com/.