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Lawmakers demand info on Web tracking practices

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"A congressional committee wants the nation's largest telecommunications and Internet companies to explain whether they target online advertising based on consumers' search queries and Web surfing habits.

In an expanding inquiry into the state of consumer privacy on the Internet, House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders sent letters Friday to more than 30 companies, demanding to know whether they track where their users go online and use that information to deliver personalized advertising.

Among the companies receiving the letters were Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Corp., AT&T Inc., Comcast Corp., Qwest Communications International Inc., Verizon Communications Inc., Time Warner Inc.'s AOL unit and Time Warner Cable Inc. The companies were given a week to respond.

The letters build on an earlier probe by the committee into "deep packet inspection" technologies, which can track where people go and what they do on the Internet.

"It's important for Internet users and American consumers in general to understand what information is being collected about them and how it's being used.""
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