Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., had asked GAO to review the use of cookies on federal Web sites.
Cookies are small text files that track users' movements on the Web.
Session cookies expire once users close their browsers. Persistent cookies are stored on users' computers for a much longer time. GAO reviewed a total of 65 federal Web sites in August, September and October. For Thompson, cookies fit into the larger issue of computer security and Internet privacy. Unfortunately, it appears that at some instances, the agencies are misleading the public about whether they or third parties are tracking information about citizens who visit their Web sites.