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AOL Privacy Lawsuit, from The Standard
- From: Owen Creger
- Date: Fri Jul 07 14:53:50 2000
July 6, 2000, 9:54 AM PDT
Lawsuit Says You Can't Escape Netscape
The latest lawsuit accuses America Online's subsidiary of illegally tracking
Web surfers.
By Keith Perine
WASHINGTON - America Online (AOL) is the target of a class action that
accuses its Netscape subsidiary of violating federal privacy laws.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New
York by Abbey, Gardy & Squitieri on behalf of Christopher Specht, alleges
that AOL is illegally tracking Web surfers, in violation of the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. According
to the complaint, Netscape's SmartDownload software program, which is
distributed to users of Netscape's Communicator software package, secretly
monitors downloads of .exe and .zip files from Web sites. The lawsuit, filed
last Friday, alleges that Netscape transmits information about the files
back to itself, along with an identifying software cookie lodged in each
copy of Netscape's Navigator Web browser.
"Netscape is using SmartDownload to eavesdrop," says the complaint. "It is
using SmartDownload to intercept and to send to defendants information about
a communication to which defendants are not a party." AOL has yet to comment
on the lawsuit.
In the absence of broad federal Internet privacy laws, Web surfers have
resorted to private lawsuits like this one to compel companies to change
their data-handling practices. DoubleClick (DCLK) , a leading Internet ad
server, said in a May filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission
that it faced 15 private class actions, as well as one brought on behalf of
California residents. DoubleClick is also under investigation by the Federal
Trade Commission and the Michigan attorney general's office.
The complaint against AOL and Netscape demands a jury trial and asks for an
unspecified damage award. It is unknown whether Specht is joined by anyone
in his lawsuit or tilting at the companies by himself.
Owen C. Creger
Senior Network Engineer
Holland Systems, Corp.
950 Victors Way Suite 100
Ann Arbor, MI 48108
phone: 734.663.3737 fax: 734.663.9500
beeper: 517.794.3056
ocreger@holland-systems.com
www.holland-systems.com
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