Tracking Web use KO’d

Charter Communications agreed to delay plans to track Web surfing behavior by customers in the vicinity of its Newtown office and three other communities nationally, after protests from two congressmen.

Charter had planned to share the data with Redwood City, Calif.-based NebuAd Inc., which planned to test a service that would tailor online ads based on the preferences of users.

U.S. Reps. Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Joe Barton of Texas said federal law prohibits companies from launching such services unless individual customers expressly “opt in” to participate.

NebuAd says its service is benign, as it tracks Web surfing by a computer”™s Internet protocol address rather than by name.