Ranking Members Waxman and Butterfield: Hidden, Wide-Reaching Online Ad Companies Should Explain Efforts to Dodge Safari’s Third-Party Cookie Blocking

Feb 28, 2012

Today Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman and Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade Subcommittee Ranking Member G. K. Butterfield sent letters to the Presidents and CEOs of online advertising companies Media Innovation Group, PointRoll, and Vibrant Media regarding a report that they bypassed the privacy settings of Apple Inc.’s Safari Web browser to track users who had intended to block such tracking. The members are asking the companies that are largely unknown to most Americans, but nonetheless reach millions of Internet users, to explain why they delivered code to users’ devices designed to dodge Safari’s default third-party cookie blocking.

The full text of the letter is available online here.

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