[Am-info] DoubleClick Settles Suit, But Still Can Track Surfers(OT)

[Fred A. Miller]

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DoubleClick Settles Suit, But Still Can Track Surfers

DoubleClick Inc. vowed Monday to give consumers more information=20
about how it collects data online, settling a 30-month=20
investigation led by the New York Attorney General's Office.=20

The agreement between DoubleClick and 10 states requires=20
DoubleClick to explain on sites how it tracks and profiles Web=20
surfers. DoubleClick leaves cookie files on the computers of=20
people who visit a site using its services. That lets DoubleClick=20
track users' Web travels, create profiles, and deliver online ads=20
that match those profiles.

DoubleClick, which has a business relationship with=20
InformationWeek, didn't admit wrongdoing in the agreement, but=20
will pay $450,000 to the states to cover investigative costs and=20
consumer education. In May, DoubleClick paid $1.8 million and=20
enacted new disclosure rules to settle a Federal Trade Commission=20
case.=20

DoubleClick is the largest profiler of consumers' surfing habits,=20
and the settlement includes significant concessions from the=20
company in the area of disclosure but none that limits how it=20
collects data, says Jason Catlett, president of Junkbusters, a=20
privacy-advocacy firm. Catlett says DoubleClick's profiling is an=20
invasion of privacy and that Monday's settlement, which ends the=20
last major legal action against DoubleClick, demonstrates that=20
U.S. laws on Web privacy are inadequate. - John Rendleman

For the full story, go to:
http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/flo?y=3DeIei0Bce7K0V20BhNb0Ai

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Fred A. Miller
Systems Administrator
Cornell Univ. Press Services
fm@cupserv.org, www.cupserv.org
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