MarkMonitor?

MarkMonitor?

Just noticed (because I am currently using a guest account hosted by a picky firewall) the at the end of loading any El Reg page there is a call out to Mark Monitor.

This is the organisation which monitors internet useage for any misuse of registered trade marks etc.

Also the organisation which sent a "cease and desist" letter to the ancient village of Copthorne (from which the Copthorne Hotel chain took its name) for infringing the hotel's trade mark by using the village name for a website (copthornrvillage.org IIRC).

Not a particularly nice organisation by all accounts.

The call out is tied to the adverts (as demonstrated by using a PC and turning the ad blocker on and off) which is why I have just switched to Firefox on my Android tablet even though Chrome is slicker and faster. I am now blocking all adverts, which I am sure is not what El Reg really wants.

I see no reason for Mark Monitor to be calling back to home base to report that I am reading El Reg.

So is this "feature" supplied by El Reg, supplied by an advertiser but condoned by El Reg, or just some unauthorised attempt to harvest information from my system about "other things" such as torent use and the presence of music files on my system?