Today's controversy surrounding Google's tracking of Safari-based cookies has prompted the attention of Congress, with several House members calling on the Federal Trade Commission to investigate.
Reps. Edward Markey and Joe Barton, co-chairmen of the Bi-partisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, and Cliff Sterns, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations, penned a letter to the FTC asking if today's revelation constitutes a violation of its recent settlement with the company.
That settlement arose from complaints regarding Google's Buzz social network, and banned Google from "future privacy misrepresentations." It also requires Google to implement privacy safeguards and submit to regular audits.
"Google's practices could have a wide sweeping impact because Safari is a major Web browser used by millions of Americans," the congressmen wrote. "As members of the Congressional Bi-Partisan Privacy Caucus, we are interested in any actions the FTC has taken or plans to take to investigate whether Google has violated the terms of its consent agreement."
Earlier this week, a Stanford University graduate student, Jonathan Mayer, released a report that accused Google and three other ad networks of side-stepping the privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser to track usage on iPhones and Macs without permission.
Google said the report, which was picked up by the Wall Street Journal, "mischaracterizes" the search giant's efforts. But the company admitted that a glitch accidentally allowed Google cookies "to be set" on Safari and promised a fix.
"Cookies" are little bits of data collected about your Internet activity. They can be useful - like remembering passwords and settings on sites that you surf to frequently - but there are also concerns about targeted advertising and how much data is really collected. As Mayer noted, popular Web browsers provide the option to block third-party cookies, but Apple's Safari browser is unique in that it blocks third-party cookies by default on the iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, and Macs.
Despite that ban, Google said that Apple enabled some features that rely on third parties and third-party cookies, like Google's +1 button. As a result, Google took advantage of that access and "created a temporary communication link between Safari browsers and Google's servers." In doing so, however, Safari unexpectedly allowed "other Google advertising cookies to be set on the browser," prompting Mayer's report and the Journal story. Google insisted it was not intentional and said it has "started removing these advertising cookies from Safari browsers."
Markey and his Congressional Privacy Caucus colleagues have called for the FTC to investigate a number of similar issues lately, including Google's privacy update and Facebook's tracking cookies.