Lawmakers query Internet firms on ad targeting

Senior members of the House Commerce Committee wrote to broadband Internet providers and other online companies on Friday, asking whether they have "tailored, or facilitated the tailoring of, Internet advertising based on consumers Internet search, surfing, or other use." The request comes amid rising scrutiny of the practice, known as deep-packet inspection, or DPI, by lawmakers and consumer advocates. The letters were sent to more than 30 online companies, including large broadband providers such as Comcast Corp, AT&T Inc and Verizon Communications Inc, as well as search giant Google Inc and Microsoft. The letter asks where any ad-targeting practices have been used, how many consumers have been subjected to it and whether those people were ever notified about it, among other things. "We are interested in the nature and extent to which you engage in such practices, and the impact it could have on consumer privacy," said the letter from Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and ranking committee Republican Joe Barton (TX).