WASHINGTON/CMNN - According to an AP article, investigators have found that the federal government is tracking visitors to government websites despite a ban on such activity. Officials within the departments concerned claim that such tracking has been accidental.

A government contractor was even given ownership of the information from an unidentified site. The Congressional Report released on 16 April lists over 16 agencies and at least 64 web sites that may be violating the tracking ban. NASA, one of the more popular destinations on the web has not even determined the extent in which they might be violating their own rules.

Cookies from these government sites are placed on visitor's computers and are used to track buying habits, browsing patterns and also allow servers to identify computers that return to the site.

Among the agencies found to have used these files are the US Mint, NASA, and the Departments of Education, Energy, Treasury, Transportation and the Interior. It is uncertain how many people visited the illegal sites but Jupiter Media Metrix, which tracks internet usage estimated that as many as 3.5 million users went to the NASA site alone.

Watchdog groups such as the Center for Democracy and Technology find the report troubling. The report raises issues about how much the government should be involved in peoples lives, commerce, etc. and how much it should know about its individual citizens.