Embarq provides more details on Web tracking test

In a new report to Congress, Embarq is revealing more about its program that tracked Internet subscribers' Web-surfing habits for advertising purposes. The company performed the test on 26,000 customers in Gardner (KS) because it was Embarq's smallest market and near qualified technicians. The company included a notice about potential uses of customer Internet history for advertising on an obscure part of its Web site; 15 people asked not to participate. The company claims that the test didn't generate or use any information that would personally identify a specific customer. Embarq apparently doesn't plan to test the program again or expand its use throughout its markets in 18 states "until such time as privacy concerns have been addressed." Rep Edward Markey (D-MA), chairman of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, is glad Embarq had provided more information. However, he added, "I am still troubled by the company's failure to directly inform their consumers of the consumer data gathering test and the notion that an 'opt-out' option is a sufficient standard for such sweeping data gathering."