LAWMAKERS CONDEMN WHITE HOUSE DRUG POLICY OFFICE FOR INTERNET TRACKING

WASHINGTON -- Republican lawmakers denounced the White House's drug policy
office Thursday for using software to track computer users viewing its
anti-drug advertising, a practice contrary to the Clinton administration's
own privacy guidelines. "The government should not be in the business of
cybersnooping," said House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas. "These sites
ought to be an essential link for citizens who want to become more involved
in our government. It is an outrage when this vital trust is violated by the
lack of concern for personal privacy."

The White House ordered its Office of National Drug Control Policy Wednesday
to stop using "cookies," small software files often placed on computers
without a person's knowledge. Cookies can be used to track a person's
movement on the Web and collect personal data.

The drug policy office ordered contractors to stop using the cookies as soon
as possible, said Don Maple, who helps run the office's media campaign.

"We had obviously underestimated the administration's sensitivity to the use
of this technique," he added.

Last week, Armey, along with Reps. Bill Tauzin, R-La., and Bob Goodlatte,
R-Va., wrote the White House requesting all federal Web sites be checked for
compliance with Internet privacy standards proposed for business by the
Federal Trade Commission.

"A project with links and tracking to proprietary Web sites and business has
vast privacy implications with which Congress should be consulted," Tauzin
said in a letter to Barry R. McCaffrey, head of the drug policy office.

Various Web sites displayed the anti-drug ads, which also appeared on
Internet search engines when users typed in key words related to drugs.
Users clicking on the ads were taken to a drug policy office site called
"Freevibe" which targeted young people. Upon entering the site, a cookie was
placed on users' computers.

The tracking totaled the number of people clicking on ads, which ads they
clicked on and what pages they viewed on the Freevibe site, Maple said.

For the campaign, reported by Scripps Howard News Service this week,
McCaffrey's office used the firm Ogilvy & Mather, which in turn contracted
with DoubleClick, the nation's largest Internet ad agency.

DoubleClick spokesman Josh Isay said the tracking technology wasn't used to
create profiles of Web users.

"It's totally anonymous," he said. "It's not shared with anyone else."

However, some critics contend there is no such thing as total anonymity with
cookies.

Ari Schwartz, a policy analyst for the Washington-based consumer advocacy
Center for Democracy and Technology, said even the most innocuous Web
tracking contains some minimal identifying information.

"We're talking about tracking people on drug sites. It's not too far of a
step to assume a law enforcement agency could come asking for this
information and track down individuals," he said.

Isay said he didn't know if other government agencies had contracted his
company for similar services.

New York-based DoubleClick handles ads on about 1,500 Web sites and counts
the traffic. Private lawsuits and a complaint filed with the FTC accuse the
company of cross-referencing its information on Web users with the vast
database of a direct-mail company to target potential consumers.

In May 1998, President Clinton ordered federal agencies to ensure that their
Web sites comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 and to begin privacy reviews.

The General Accounting Office, the auditing arm of Congress, plans to
release a study in October of whether government Web sites have prominent
privacy policies that conform to the administration's guidelines.