In recent weeks, DoubleClick has received more than its share of attention from privacy advocates who claim that the company’s information-collection practices strip users of their anonymity.
In January, a California woman sued the company, accusing it of unlawfully obtaining and selling consumers’ personal information. The suit alleged that DoubleClick uses cookies, small text files placed on a computer, along with data it acquired from its purchase of Abacus Direct Corp., to identify Internet users by personal information.
Since last week, consumer advocacy groups have protested the company’s new privacy policy that acknowledges it will create a database of profiles that will contain users’ personal information, including their names and addresses.
While the company defends itself by claiming that the information collected will be seen only by DoubleClick, its claim has not assuaged the concerns about the erosion of privacy on the Internet.
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