"The fact that the White House site used Web bugs that do not capture personally identifiable information is irrelevant," said privacy expert Larry Ponemon. "The key issue is government officials were caught completely off-guard when reporters learned that Internet tracking technologies were planted on the White House's site."
By Walaika K. Haskins
The White House has started an investigation to determine if a government contractor used banned Internet tracking technologies to analyze usage and traffic at www.whitehouse.gov.
The contractor, WebTrends, Inc., allegedly used Web bugs -- small, almost invisible images inserted in Web pages that pass information anonymously to third-party sites -- to record who visited the White House Web site and when they did so.
While Web bugs are not prohibited, David Almacy, White House Internet director, said there will be an investigation to determine whether WebTrends violated a 2003 policy set by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) banning the use of Internet tracking devices on government sites.
"No one even knew it was happening" Almacy said in an interview with the Associated Press. "We're going to work with the contractor to ensure that it's consistent with the OMB policy."
The disclosure came just one day after the National Security Agency confirmed that it had mistakenly used a prohibited type of cookie to track the comings and goings of individuals to its Web site.
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