Amid heightened controversy surrounding domestic spying and torture, privacy watchdogs charge that a website operated by the Department of Defense uses “hyperlinks,” which, under certain conditions, will display content from other Web pages on the reader’s browser.

The “hyperlinks,” or more simply “links” in the jargon of defense contractors, are “embedded” into the “document,” or Web page, with a “tag” written in a “code” known as “hypertext markup language,” or simply “HTML.” These “tags” are invisible to the “client,” or reader, but will turn a length of text into a “hyperlink,” which if “clicked,” will send a “request” to a “server” for a different Web page, sometimes an “external” page which is not controlled by the government, or accountable to Congress.

These “requests” involve sending personal information about the “client,” such as the “I.P. address.” Once a “request” reaches the “server,” a computer immediately sends “packets” of encoded information to the “client.”

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld counters that the “hyperlinks” are technically not illegal under revised 2002 government Website guidelines, but privacy advocates see an alleged parallel to the alleged torture of alleged detainees at alleged secret foreign prisons.

“Just like Karl Rove sends terrorists to places like, you know, Romania and stuff, now Rumsfeld sends website visitors to other websites with codes,” said someone who might have been an expert on a cable talk show, which was viewed in the course of researching this report.

“Hyperlinks” were invented as a military research tool during the Reagan administration. Currently they are known to be used not just on government websites, but also by Halliburton.