Barton: 'Supercookies' should be illegal

Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said Thursday that "supercookies," new online tools used to track users' activities, should be illegal.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that websites including MSN and Hulu were installing tools on users' computers that continued to track their activities even after traditional tracking files, known as "cookies," were deleted.

"I find the most recent news of these so-called ‘supercookies’ disturbing and the fact that major websites like Hulu and MSN didn’t know they were attached to their products is just plain frightening," said Barton, a senior lawmaker on the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Microsoft's general counsel said the company took "immediate action" to disable the supercookies on MSN.com, Computerworld reports. A Hulu spokeswoman declined to comment to Computerworld. 

"Supercookies are legal, but I don't think they should be," Barton said. "The constant abuse of online activity must stop. I believe the Internet business community needs to continue to investigate incidents like this and do a better job at protecting users’ privacy." 

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