Privacy groups ask FTC to probe online marketing

Privacy advocates are asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how that information is used in drug marketing.

Privacy advocates worry that pharmaceutical companies are being sneaky about gathering information on web-surfing patients, and they're asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate how that information is used in drug marketing. What's more, they're suggesting that FDA hold off on proposing social-media regulations for drugmakers until the FTC has looked into their complaint.

Four pro-privacy groups petitioned the agency--the Center for Digital Democracy, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the World Privacy Forum, and Consumer Watchdog. Among their complaints: marketing firms that use disease-awareness sites to identify potential patients, and then track those individual users, collecting information about their online behavior and using that info to tailor marketing messages especially for them.

The groups also question drugmakers' use of "unbranded" websites and online video channels that link to promotional sites for particular products; social-med