Travelers, be wary of 'data passing' online

Last year's Senate investigation concluded that millions of consumers had been sold club memberships by Affinion, Vertrue and Webloyalty that they didn't want and were unaware they had purchased. The report noted that the companies together raked in more than $1 billion by partnering with hundreds of legitimate sites that were willing to share their customers' billing information, including credit and debit card numbers.

Mike Bush, a spokesman for Affinion Group, also based in Norwalk, said that the post-transaction data pass "no longer exists with us," adding, "We voluntarily ended it in January, and consumers must now provide all 16 digits of their credit or debit number when enrolling online in any of our services."

Other travel companies mentioned in the report either refused to comment for this story or said that they do not pass along customer information in this way.

"We don't do it," said Brian Ek, a spokesman for Priceline.com.

Instead, online agencies such as his now offer other products at the end of a transaction, including rental cars, hotel rooms, trip insurance, tours and attractions. But any purchase must be authorized separately.

The way in which these other products are marketed is a topic for another day. (Some online agencies still engage in a questionable practice called "opt-out" marketing -- more on that soon.) For now, the big concern among travelers should be avoiding the kind of mysterious data passing that happened to Agosta, if not eliminating it.

How do we rid the Internet of this questionable marketing technique?

The Interactive Travel Services Association, a group that represents online travel sellers, doesn't have an official position on data passing and post-transaction marketing. This might be a good time to adopt one. And, of course, there's proposed legislation, the Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act, which promises to end this unsavory sales tactic. The bill is working its way through the Senate this summer.

Until then, don't let your guard down at the end of an online transaction. With just a push of a radio button or the click of a mouse, you could be buying something you don't want, according to a Senate investigator I spoke with.

"Don't click buttons just to finish a purchase," he warned.

Elliott is National Geographic Traveler magazine's reader advocate. E-mail him at celliott@ngs.org.