Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet

Congress wants to know: How do search engines use your personal data? The House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent out letters on Friday to major network companies asking them, among other things, how they use personal tracking data to serve up those highly targeted ads.

Embarq Corp. has revealed more details about its exploration of a program that tracked Internet subscribers' Web-surfing habits for advertising purposes, telling Congress that it performed the test on 26,000 customers in a Kansas town.

Building on an earlier response to Rep. John Dingell, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Embarq CEO Thomas Gerke wrote in a letter late Wednesday that his Overland Park, Kan.-based company chose Gardner, Kan., for its test because it was Embarq's smallest market and near qualified technicians.