"If they don't act on this, it will show that they're asleep at the watch, " Catlett said.

CNN: Privacy groups ask FTC to close e-mail loophole

Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters, said he was also very disturbed by the new "Orwellian" use of cookies.

CNN: Privacy groups ask FTC to close e-mail loophole

Catlett also sees the petition as a test of the FTC's willingness to take the lead on the Internet.

CNN: Privacy groups ask FTC to close e-mail loophole

Catlett said he expects both Microsoft and Netscape to close the loophole willingly.

CNN: Privacy groups ask FTC to close e-mail loophole

Catlett said Qwest Communications, the project's network service provider, was already learning more about high-speed transmission from its work on the project.

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One of the ways that TeraGrid is different from private-sector grids, says Catlett, is that it can run so many different platforms.

FORBES: Federal Agency To Donate $150M To Grid Project

"If customers knew that all of their purchases are being pooled and shared, they would be horrified, " says Jason Catlett of Junkbusters, a consumer privacy group.

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Catlett's company makes a program designed to block Internet ads.

CNN: Cyber 'junkbusters' target Internet ads

"We are going to extend the grid, bring in more computers, " said Charles Catlett , a researcher at the University of Chicago's Computation Institute and the director of the TeraGrid project.

FORBES: Federal Agency To Donate $150M To Grid Project

"They all find out that you opened the mail and they get an invisible tracking number, so if you go to a store ... that number is reported to them and they can build that information into a database, " Catlett said.

CNN: Privacy groups ask FTC to close e-mail loophole