subject: (Fwd) FC: Doubleclick sued for "violating privacy rights of Ne posted: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 13:07:51 +0800
..this is Ye Olde get-your-email-address-by-banner-embedded-in-
HTML-enabled-email Trick. Will followup once I find the article!!!
Stuart
------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent: Fri, 28 Jan 2000 08:50:01 -0800
To: [email protected]
From: Declan McCullagh <[email protected]>
Subject: FC: Doubleclick sued for "violating privacy rights of
Net users"
Send reply to: [email protected]
*******
[As much as I dislike anyone insisting they're acting on behalf of
the
General Public -- and particularly plaintiffs' lawyers with the
temerity to
capitalize the term -- this suit might have merit. I'm not familiar with
all the details, but if Doubleclick did promise to protect privacy and
lied
about it, it seems like a contract violation that should be properly
remedied in the courts. This at least seems to be a better, faster way to
handle privacy violations than slower-to-respond federal regulations. --DBM]
*******
Doubleclick is Sued for Violating Privacy Rights of Internet Users
SAN RAFAEL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 2000--A California woman sued
Doubleclick today on behalf of the General Public of the State of
California, charging that the Internet's largest advertising company is
unlawfully obtaining and selling consumers' highly private personal
information. The lawsuit was filed in California Superior Court - Marin County.
The lawsuit, entitled Judnick v. Doubleclick, Inc., alleges that
Doubleclick employs sophisticated computer technology, known as "cookies,"
to identify Internet users, track and record their Internet use and the
Internet Web Sites they visit, and obtain a plethora of highly confidential
and personal information about them without their consent. The information
obtained, the suit alleges, includes such sensitive items as names, addresses,
ages, shopping patterns and histories and financial information.
According to the lawsuit, Doubleclick has represented to the General Public
that it was not collecting personal and identifying information and that it
gives privacy interests of Internet users, "paramount importance." Last
year, however, Doubleclick acquired Abacus Direct Corporation ("Abacus"), a
direct-marketing services company, which maintains a huge database of
personal information for ninety percent (90%) of American households. The
lawsuit alleges that Doubleclick then combined the power of its cookie
technology with the information it acquired to create a sophisticated and
highly intrusive means of collecting and cross-referencing private personal
information without the knowing consent of Internet users.
"Doubleclick has an obligation to the General Public using the Internet to
truthfully and adequately inform them about what Doubleclick is taking from
them, namely, their personal, private information. Internet users have a
right to privacy and to be free from false and misleading advertising,
protected by the laws of the State of California. Even if Doubleclick
provides warnings, such warnings give no protection to many unsophisticated
web-surfers. One wrong click and the originally anonymous cookie becomes a
window into that consumer's private life. Consumers must be allowed to
first give their conscious, informed and affirmative consent before
Doubleclick is given access
to their private, personal information." said Ira Rothken, an attorney
representing Hariett M. Judnick, on behalf of the General Public of California.
The Plaintiff is requesting an injunction against Doubleclick, stopping
them from using technology to collect personal information without prior
written consent of the Internet user, providing a means for the Internet
user to destroy mistakenly gathered private information and requiring
Doubleclick to destroy all records obtained without a consumer's knowing
consent.
If you wish to discuss this case or have any questions please contact
Plaintiff's lead counsel, Ira Rothken of THE ROTHKEN LAW FIRM at
415-924-4250 or via e-mail at [email protected] The law firm web site is
located at http://www.techfirm.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology
To subscribe: send a message to [email protected] with this text:
subscribe politech
More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
------- End of forwarded message -------
generated by msg2page 0.06 on Jul 21, 2006 at 19:05:20
search: