Internet subcommittee

The Web sites computer users visit, the search queries they conduct and the products they buy -- along with all the personal details they reveal on social networking pages -- can give companies insight into what Internet ads they might be interested in seeing.

But privacy watchdogs warn that too many people have no idea that Internet marketers are tracking their online habits and then mining that data to serve up targeted pitches -- a practice known as behavioral advertising.

In the wake of news that Google is introducing behavioral targeting of advertisements, a Democratic congressman from Virginia is renewing his suggestion that new consumer-protection legislation may be needed to rein in data collection.

Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) said he is working with Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), to craft a bill to require online companies to notify consumers of tracking activity. All three congressmen are members of the Internet subcommittee in the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which Boucher chairs.

A Recycled Proposal

A congressional panel wants to know why a plan aimed at using public airwaves and private money to create a nationwide emergency communications network failed to attract any interest in an otherwise successful spectrum auction.

The House Energy and Commerce telecommunications and the Internet subcommittee on Tuesday was to hear from all five members of the Federal Communications Commission as well as key figures in the behind-the-scenes negotiations that failed to lead to an agreement to construct the wireless broadband network.