Tweet

AT&T Responds To Behavioral Advertising Allegations

Telco Responds To Statement Made By Telco Chief Security Officer Attwood During Hill Testimony Last Week

John Eggerton -- Multichannel News, 4/27/2009 12:19:33 PM

AT&T reiterated Monday that it does not engage in behavioral advertising as an Internet service provider, and will look into ways to let customers know how data is being used when AT&T is an advertiser.

"As an ISP, we do not track our customer's data across unrelated websites to create a profile for behavioral advertising, or hire other firms to do so on our behalf," the company said in a statement. "Our relationship with this firm (AudienceScience.com] is as an advertiser of AT&T products and services. News reports suggesting that we are engaging in behavioral advertising by selling information of our customers is flat wrong."

AT&T was responding to stories and a letter from California Democratic Rep. Anna Eshoo following a Hill hearing last week on behavioral advertising. There was some confusion following testimony of AT&T chief privacy officer Dorothy Attwood. 

Eshoo sent a letter to AT&T looking to pin down exactly what AT&T's policy on behavioral advertising is, including when it began using behavioral advertising as a client, what data those vendors collected, whether it no longer engages in behavioral advertising as an advertiser. 

AT&T went on to say that it was looking for "the best way we can meaningfully communicate to our customers about data use even when we are acting as an advertiser."

AT&T also pointed out that it had told Congress last summer that it did business with online advertisers and search engines as a publisher and advertiser.

Tweet

Talkback

We would love your feedback!

Post a comment

» View All Talkback Threads

Related Content

• Topics
• Author

No related content found.

Also by this author

• Walden: Unlicensed Spectrum Is Important, But FCC Should Not Give Away Billions

• Second 'South Park' Attacker Pleads Guilty

• House Members Push Unlicensed Spectrum Carve-Out

• LightSquared Complains It Was Left Out Of GPS Hearing

• LightSquared Wants FCC to Set GPS Receiver Standards

More >>>

• Resource Center
• Browse Categories
• Browse Companies

Featured Company

• Grab Networks

  

  Created from the merger between Anystream and Voxant Media, Grab Networks offers a comprehensive video operating system and syndication network for profitably publishing video anywhere on the Internet. The system automatically manages, transcodes and tags video assets- turning cl..more

---

Most Recent Resources

• The New Normal for Promoting Tune-in
• Infrastructure Design for High Volume Video Workflows
• Improving the Internet TV and Mobile Video Experience – an Adap..
• Mobile Media Strategies That Work
• Increasing Efficiency in Digital Distribution of Media