September 3rd, 2008
Deep packet spy's CEO resigns
Is this the beginning of the end for NebuAd, the Redwood City-based company that uses deep packet inspection technology to monitor Web surfing habits of individuals and use the information to insert advertising? CEO Bob Dykes has resigned to become Chief Financial Officer for Verifone.
The company’s technology has prompted privacy advocates to raise concerns, alleging that consumers are unknowingly being watched and that sites are having their code altered via NebuAd’s technology. Over on Capitol Hill, lawmakers have grilled Internet Service Providers about deep packet inspection practices and while most said they had not been using it, a couple of them did fess up and admit to testing it through NebuAd.
Given the revolt, it doesn’t sound like there’s a long prosperous future ahead for deep packet inspection or NebuAd which laid off a “significant” number of employees last month.
Sam Diaz is a senior editor at ZDNet. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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