"customer code" is correct and usable in written English.
You could use it in a variety of contexts to refer to a unique identifier assigned to a customer. For example, "Please enter your customer code in the provided blank to access your account."
That means that rather than being anonymous, those customer code numbers are pseudonymous at best, some computer researchers say.
They add that third-party data collectors do not know Internet users' real names and compile consumers' online marketing records under customer code numbers.
Others say that using ID systems like customer code numbers to track children "anonymously" online is benign — and that collecting information about children's online activities is necessary to deliver the ads that finance free content and services for children.
New York Times Bank of America says that WikiLeaks has fallen foul of its customer code of conduct and will not process any more payments made to the controversial website.
The F.T.C. wants to expand the types of data whose collection requires prior parental permission to include persistent ID systems, like unique device codes or customer code numbers stored in cookies, if those codes are used to track children online for advertising purposes.
If the F.T.C. were to include customer code numbers among the information that requires a parent's consent, industry analysts say, it might someday require companies to get similar consent for a practice that represents the backbone of digital marketing and advertising — using such code numbers to track the online activities of adults.
RIM refused to disclose customer codes, despite the pressure.
Mr. Atreya, the Verizon director, says the company changes these customer codes every few days.
He added that the company was considering allowing its subscribers to opt out of being tagged with its undeletable customer codes.
Their systems do not invade privacy, they say, because they use numerical customer codes — not real names or other identifying details — to collect "anonymous" information about people's online activities.
If the F.T.C. carries out its proposed changes, children's Web sites would be required to obtain parents' permission before tracking children around the Web for advertising purposes, even with anonymous customer codes.
