ABC Online Chat Posts Information That IDs Viewers

Viewers who tuned in to ABC’s first Internet news broadcast to chat electronically with anchor Sam Donaldson had more than their names and comments posted at the Web site for the world to see.

ABC also disclosed the unique four-numbered Internet address for each person who wrote a comment Monday, a decision that helps anyone trace a viewer’s real-world identity.

In one instance, “Mark from DC” turned out to be an employee at the Justice Department who pressed the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission: “When will the telecommunications industries begin addressing the increasing gulf in the inaccessibility of the Web to [the] poor?”

FCC Chairman William Kennard was among Donaldson’s guests on the debut of his Web-only broadcast.

Bernard Gershon, general manager for the ABC News Web site, couldn’t be reached to explain the network’s decision to publish each viewer’s “Internet protocol” address. But he said earlier that the site will collect only a person’s name and e-mail address when a viewer asks to subscribe to a regular newsletter that Donaldson will write.

ABC’s Internet privacy policy, published elsewhere on its Web site, warns viewers that some chat boards “may display IP [Internet protocol] addresses along with the message poster’s name and message.” It urges people to “please review each service prior to use and only use those that disclose information you are comfortable with sharing.”

“It looks like a bit of cluelessness that should be fixed,” said Jason Catlett of Junkbusters Corp., a New Jersey-based privacy group. “There’s no reason to do it, and a number of reasons not to do it.”