Tuesday, February 15, 2000
Web's DoubleClick on defense
Public's privacy the key issue
BY DAVID E. KALISH
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Online advertising agency DoubleClick launched a counterattack Monday against repeated accusations that it invades consumers' privacy on the Internet.
But the effort merely escalated a clash with privacy advocates seeking a government clampdown.
The widened rift underscores the increasing controversy between a marketing industry eager to harness the Internet's power to reach customers and those who fear the intrusion to people's confidential information, such as spending habits, health status and food preferences.
New York-based DoubleClick is the nation's largest Internet ad agency, electronically inserting advertisements on about 1,500 Web sites on behalf of online advertisers.
Last fall, the company landed in hot water with privacy advocates when it bought direct marketing company Abacus for $1.7 billion.
What irked them was DoubleClick's plans to cross-reference information obtained by Web “cookie” technology with consumer information from the Abacus marketing database.
DoubleClick, targeted in a lawsuit filed last month and a complaint filed with the Feder al Trade Commission last week, stands accused of seeking to build virtual dossiers on unwitting consumers' buying habits and identities, with the intent to sell the data to advertisers who can barrage people with ads.
DoubleClick fought back Monday, unveiling an advertising campaign that attempts to portray itself as the opposite: a consumer-friendly company that goes out of its way to protect consumers' privacy on the Internet.
The DoubleClick measures include placing 50 million banner advertisements on Web sites, part of an “Internet Privacy Education Campaign” that the company says makes it easier for Web users to “opt out” of giving marketers confidential details about their shopping habits. The banner ads will be placed over the next few months, DoubleClick president Kevin Ryan said in a teleconference.
DoubleClick also said that PricewaterhouseCoopers would start conducting independent audits of its privacy practices.
Yet privacy advocates immediately termed the DoubleClick effort as just window-dressing, saying it avoids the main issue of which DoubleClick stands accused: Linking information users believed was anonymous — planted on “cookie” files on their computer hard drives — with a database of names and consumer buying habits.
A cookie is a small file that a Web site deposits on your hard drive, often with a unique number that identifies the user's computer. The next time someone using that computer goes back to the site, the site will recognize the computer.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group based in Washington, filed the complaint last week with the Federal Trade Com mission. The group also is pushing for federal legislation that would regulate the use of personal information and cookies on the Internet.
It followed a similar move late last month by Harriet Judnick, a California woman who sued in Marin County Superior Court saying the cross-referencing between the DoubleClick and Abacus databases was being done without users' consent. She is seeking class-action status on behalf of all people in the state.
Web's DoubleClick on defense
Kroger selling 'Junior' T-shirts
Brandt relies on its roots
Broadcaster buys marketer
TRISTATE SUMMARY
INDUSTRY NOTES: BANKING
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
TRISTATE MARKET SPOTLIGHT
U.S. sales rate gains on inventories
