Unbeknownst to the Bush administration (Does this guy know anything?)

U.S. to Probe Contractor's Web Tracking By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
1 hour, 35 minutes ago



NEW YORK - Unbeknownst to the Bush administration, an outside contractor has been using Internet tracking technologies that may be prohibited to analyze usage and traffic patterns at the White House's Web site, an official said Thursday.

David Almacy, the White House's Internet director, promised an investigation into whether the practice is consistent with a 2003 policy from the White House's Office of Management and Budget banning the use of most such technologies at government sites.

"No one even knew it was happening," Almacy said. "We're going to work with the contractor to ensure that it's consistent with the OMB policy."

The acknowledgment came a day after the National Security Agency admitted it had erred in using banned "cookies" at its Web site. Both acknowledgments followed inquiries by The Associated Press
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051229/ap_on_hi_te/white_house_bug_1

"UNBEKNOWNST to the Bush administration, an outside contractor has been using Internet tracking technologies ..."

So much for wire-tapping to 'catch terrorists' red-handed. They can't even 'catch' a hacker on their own GD'md website.

by the WH to maintain a website to analyze traffic.

Essentially, the way I read this, is that the White House is ILLEGALLY using cookies (in this case "web bugs") on the site to track usage. The article is written in an obscure way but the bingo part is this:

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The White House's privacy policy does not specially mention cookies or Web bugs, and Almacy said the signoff was never sought because one was not thought to be required. He said his team was first informed of the cookie use by the AP.

In any case, Almacy said, no personal information was collected, and the cookie was used only to determine whether a visitor was a new or returning user.

It's not entirely clear how the cookies are created.

Cookies from the White House site do not appear to be generated simply by visiting it, according to analyses by the AP and by Richard M. Smith, a security consultant in Cambridge, Mass.

Rather, WebTrends cookies are sometimes created when visiting other WebTrends clients. Smith said his analysis of network traffic shows such preexisting cookies have then been used to recognize visitors to the White House site.

But WebTrends officials say they do not aggregate information about visitors across multiple sites, and when presented with Smith's data, referred inquiries to the White House. Almacy said it's possible the cookie resulted from the White House visit, adding he was awaiting further details from WebTrends.

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