Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2001 12:14:02 -0500 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: N2H2 Ends Practice of Selling Data on Kids' Surfing Habits To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)
http://public.wsj.com/sn/y/SB982958818994493680.html
February 23, 2001
N2H2 Ends Practice of Selling Data on Kids' Surfing Habits
A WSJ.com News Roundup
Internet filtering company N2H2 Inc. said it will stop collecting and selling data on the Web surfing habits of millions of schoolchildren who use its product.
The Wall Street Journal Online featured the company's marketing plans in an article last month. Privacy advocates condemned the data collection, and schools said they didn't realize their students' online movements were being sold as a marketing product.
N2H2, Seattle, says its move to end the marketing program was purely a business decision. "This was a distraction. We're an Internet filtering company, and we want to focus on that," a spokesman said, noting that it had been hard to sell the data. The company maintains that its actions were well within federal guidelines on collecting data from children, and says the data could never be used to identify specific students. Federal law prohibits collection or sale of a child's personal information without parental permission.
The company, whose software is used by more than 14 million students around the country, says it will stop producing reports for the Class Clicks program, which was being sold by market research firm Roper Starch Worldwide.
N2H2 aid it may compile future reports on students' Web behavior for use by educators, but says it will only include schools in those reports if they specifically ask to be included. "We think this data could be helpful for teachers, but right now we've officially removed everyone from the sampling pool," the spokesman said.
Subscribe to Freematt's Alerts: Pro-Individual Rights Issues Send a blank message to: freematt@coil.com with the words subscribe FA on the subject line. List is private and moderated (7-30 messages per month) Matthew Gaylor, 2175 Bayfield Drive, Columbus, OH 43229 (614) 313-5722 ICQ: 106212065 Archived at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fa/