NebuAd Closing Doors After Internet Privacy Woes

DEBORAH YAO

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — NebuAd Inc., a company that sought to target ads to consumers based on their online behavior, is going out of business after facing scrutiny over whether its technology infringed on the privacy of Internet surfers.

In court filings this week, NebuAd said it has been winding down its business since last year. It laid off virtually all its employees in July and August, closing its office in Redwood City, Calif., in September. NebuAd once employed over 60 people.

NebuAd has "essentially ceased to exist," according to documents filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

NebuAd's clients — Internet service providers who wanted to share the ad revenue with NebuAd — started dropping out after Congress held hearings last July on the technology, which examined consumers' Internet traffic to determine their interests. Although individual Web sites routinely target advertising, privacy advocates argued that NebuAd's all-encompassing approach went too far, and said consumers' overall Web surfing should be tracked only if they opted into the system.

Among the cable and phone operators that abandoned interest in NebuAd were Charter Communications Inc., Bresnan Communications LLC, The Washington Post Co.'s Cable One Inc. and Embarq Corp.