14 DAY TRIAL // A recent report according to which a dozen US-based Internet service providers were hijacking customer search traffic might result in the companies being summoned before the Senate's Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law.
A group of researchers from the International Computer Science Institute in Berkeley, California, revealed last week that twelve ISPs were redirecting users directly to retail websites when they searched for certain keywords via their browser address bar.
The companies were routing search traffic through proxy servers provided by a company called Paxfire which then handled the actual redirection.
Paxfire and the ISPs received money for the traffic through affiliate marketing programs like those operated by Commission Junction, Google, LinkShare, or Ask.com.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), a member of the Senate's Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, told New Scientist that he will discuss the possibility of summoning the ISPs and Paxfire before the committee.
"These practices may well be a violation of law, including federal wiretap laws. They are clearly a violation of trust that users place in ISPs," Blumenthal said, echoing the earlier opinion of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).
Blumenthal also plans to take this matter to the Federal Trade Commission and state attorney general in order to see if any legal action is possible and warranted.
New York-based law firms Reese Richman and Milberg have already filed a class action lawsuit against Internet service provider RCN and Paxfire claiming the hijacking violates the privacy safeguards of the Federal Wiretap Act.
According to New Scientist, all of the ISPs mentioned in the report have since stopped hijacking search queries. Traffic intended for Google is no longer intercepted after the search giant complained to the ISPs, however, Bing and Yahoo queries are being still routed through Paxfire's proxies.