"There are no tracking mechanisms," he said.
An important tip got lost in the system because of inadequate tracking mechanisms.
Bar codes and other tracking mechanisms have become one of the most powerful forces in automating and analyzing product inventory and sales over the last three decades.
General Petraeus said that early in the conflict, he faced the choice of either quickly getting the weapons to willing Iraqi fighters who were defending the country or delaying while the tracking mechanisms were put in place.
A similar option exists in the most recent version of Microsoft's widely used Outlook Express e-mail program, and the company says the next release of its other e-mail program, Outlook, will block the tracking mechanisms by default.
Through online tracking mechanisms such as supercookies, browser fingerprinting, location-based identifiers, behavioural tracking, and social network leakage, marketers track both real-time behaviours on web sites – down to what you type, mouse over, purchase – and detailed personal data.
The bills also cover a large array of other issues, big and small, including tracking mechanisms such as bar coding to follow marijuana from the time it is planted until sold to consumers.
The problem, Mr. Cassar said, is that individual stores must have so-called point-of-sale systems and back-office tracking mechanisms that can communicate with the company's Web site.
He also said the company's tracking mechanisms, which record a user's buy and sell recommendations, expose people trying to promote what they know are worthless stocks or otherwise manipulate the market.
Hundreds of other companies have also staked claims on people's online data by depositing software called cookies or other tracking mechanisms on people's computers and in their browsers.
