Use this version. Email this to a friend. Nearly a year after the White House ordered federal agencies to stop secretly collecting information on people who visit their Internet sites, the practice remains widespread. But dozens of other agencies have yet to file Web site audit reports, so the number of sites violating a general ban on the use of cookies is undoubtedly higher, said Chris Hoofnagle of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.
Persistent cookies are pieces of computer code planted on a user s computer by a Web site.
They track the user s movement from page to page through the Web site, and some can track movement from site to site. Use of persistent cookies on federal Web sites has been banned in most instances by rules imposed last June by the Office of Management and Budget. Many privacy advocates worry that cookie use gives the government too much ability to monitor individuals. They fear that monitoring a taxpayer s visits to IRS pages on tax deductions, for example, might lead to audits. However, John Spotila, head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs during the Clinton administration, said he was never aware of any instances of cookies being used for that sort of surveillance.