[privacy] Ask.com's Privacy Tool Tracks Users, Groups Tell Feds

[Paul Ferguson]

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Via Threat Level.

[snip]

A coalition of privacy groups filed a federal complaint Saturday against
Ask.com, alleging that AskEraser - the company's recently unveiled search
engine history anonymization tool - doesn't actually protect users' privacy
and could be used to track people when they thought they were anonymous.

The groups, which include the Electronic Privacy Information Center, are
asking the Federal Trade Commission to find that Ask.com is engaged in
unfair trade practices by making false promises to users. The groups want
the FTC to force the company to modify the program.

Specifically, the groups charge that even when the search anonymization
tool is turned on, Ask.com's advertising partners -- which include Google
- -- are able to see and store search terms and identifiers that tie a search
to an individual.

[snip]

More:
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/01/askcoms-privacy.html

- - ferg

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--
"Fergie", a.k.a. Paul Ferguson
 Engineering Architecture for the Internet
 fergdawg(at)netzero.net
 ferg's tech blog: http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/