Washington - A group of key U.S. House lawmakers last week sent a letter to 33 Internet firms and broadband service providers, pressing them for information about the extent to which they collect information on consumers' Web surfing habits for the purpose of targeting advertising. The letter was sent by Reps. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, John D. Dingell (D-Mich.), chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, and ranking members Joe Barton (R-Texas) and Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) to a group of ISPs and other relevant firms that includes AT&T (NYSE: T), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Time Warner (NYSE: TWX), Comcast (NASD: CMCSA) and Google (NASD: GOOG).

St. Louis - Cable TV and broadband provider Charter Communications (NASD: CHTR) has abandoned plans to deploy a system that would have monitored the Web surfing habits of its customers in a bid to serve them more relevant ads. Charter's plans to implement NebuAd's tracking service drew scrutiny from both consumer privacy advocates and powerful Congressmen on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, who sent a letter to Charter asking the company to delay its plans and provide more information.

Los Angeles - Charter Communications (NASD: CHTR), a provider of cable TV services that also counts 2.7 million high-speed Internet customers, plans to test a targeted advertising system that would track some of its subscribers' Web surfing in order to serve them more tailored ads, according to BroadbandReports. The company has partnered with NebuAD to build subscriber behavioral profiles and then sell them to third-party ad networks.

Redwood City, Calif. - NebuAd, a developer of behavioral advertising technology, said on Tuesday that it has closed on a second round of venture capital financing, led by Sierra Ventures and Menlo Ventures, bringing its total funds raised to date to $30 million.

Redwood City, Calif. - NebuAd, a developer of behavioral advertising technology, has raised around $5.05 in new funding, from investors including Menlo Ventures, PEHub.com reported, citing a regulatory filing.