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Netscape Pays $100,000 To Settle Privacy Issue

Posted by Hemos on from the putting-the-issue-out-to-pasture dept.

crazyhorse44 writes ""The New York Attorney General's office said on Friday Netscape would pay $100,000 as part of a settlement of complaints about a feature used by the unit of America Online to track what users downloaded online. Netscape, once the browser pioneer that has fallen second to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer in recent years, would also delete all URLs and related data it has obtained through its SmartDownload browser software and undergo privacy audits, the Attorney General's office said. The settlement comes after a two-year probe, begun in 2002, into Netscape's collection and retention of information that identified files downloaded by users, which contradicted its statement to consumers that none of the information was saved." Story at Wired."

16 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. what were they going to do with all that data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    See what people are downloading?

  2. Only $100,000? by maliabu · · Score: 3, Insightful

    this must be the lowest settlement in recent history? is this already the end of the 2nd dotcom boom?

    1. Re:Only $100,000? by stephenbooth · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Why do they do this?? What's the point of saving this kind of information?

      Marketing. Simply marketing. If you analyze the data you get and find that people who tend to download items of type A (say, Pr0n) also download items of type B (say, MP3s of Britney Spears) you can sell that information to the mainstream pr0n merchants for loads of money so they know they should get Britney to do a centre spread. To rehash an old joke:

      1. Collect information.
      2. Do statistical analysis and correlations.
      3. $$$$

      Stephen

      --
      "Don't write down to your readers, the only people less intelligent than you can't read" - Sign on Newspaper Office Wall
  3. Netscape == sad story by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Here was the first Linux www browser worth that name, that wasn't perfect but it was working, that became more and more bloated and unstable, while at the same time Microsoft decided to give away IE for free, effectively killing off Netscape. Then Netscape sold out to AOL like a cheap whore and the browser has now become a giant marketing turd.

    The happy end of the story ? Netscape released the source code of the browser, enabling the Mozilla project to begin. Thanks guys !

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  4. Heh heh heh by arvindn · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Netscape, once the browser pioneer that has fallen second to Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer in recent years

    Read obliterated, wiped out of existence.

    Best euphemism I've seen in a while :)

    (Disclaimer: I use nothing but mozilla)

  5. so when do i get my cash ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful


    so who is going to benefit from this pathetic 100k ? the CEO earns that a month

    more signs that American buisness is more corrupt than anyone could believe

  6. what does AOL-TW-(Netscape) need $ for? by I+Want+GNU! · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They already have acquired the 'privilege' to license IE for 'free' from Microsoft. Seriously, I wonder how long it will be until AOL kills off the division completely. I doubt they will actively invest in it anymore anyway, lest they harm their warm relationship with Microsoft. It will die the slow death of MacIE.

  7. Great - now for Passport and other violations... by jkrise · · Score: 3, Insightful

    First off, to whom is the settlement money being paid? Should it not be the dumb smart-downloaders who shuld be getting compensated?

    Secondly, this opens up a thought - how about Passport (in)Security violations, Smart Update to IE, Smart Tags, etc. .Next to Rich, Smart is the most commonly used MS propoganda word. Seeing there are many dumb users of SMART features, who's gonna settle their privacy issues?

    Just wondering - is Netscape tring to say it's still alive?

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  8. victory for open source! by larry+bagina · · Score: 3, Insightful
    yet another reason to use the open-source mozilla (or konquorer, or galeon, etc) browser vs the proprietary netscape browser.

    Wh knows what other stuff AOL/TW might be doing when nobody is looking...

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  9. Re:Booh Netscape by x0n · · Score: 3, Insightful


    The sad thing is, you're probably 100% serious when you say that. It must really sting to discover that microsoft are not at the root of all bad business practices.
    </troll>

    --

    PGP KeyId: 0x08D63965
  10. Re:So? by yatest5 · · Score: 1, Insightful
    So they basically know that most of their internet users download pr0n and mp3s. Is this news? An invasion of privacy?

    Yes, I'm sure if this was Microsoft all the slashbots would be responding in *exactly* the same way. Hypocrits.

    --
    • Mod parent up! [a] by Anonymous Coward (Score:5) Thurs, June 31, @13:37
  11. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    And who gets the $100,000??? Anyone that had their privacy invaded??

  12. Re:So? by Moraelin · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Personally I'm just disappointed in it all. The electronics age seems to have just created wonderful new opportunities for the dishonest and the corrupt.

    What are they going to do with that data about the users? What _can_ they do with that data? Probably nothing useful. Ever.

    And I don't mean only Netscape. I mean all the retards who just have to collect a whole database of every single CD you listened to, every single piece of shareware installed on your computer, every web site you've been to, etc.

    _Including_ sites where you have to hand over all the data imaginable (including company name and address, shoe size and name of your pet), just to be allowed to download a patch for a program you've bought.

    E.g., Maxis's registration comes to mind. How's every single detail of my life going to help them make a better game? Does my street, house number and phone number really help their design process? Or what?

    What it does do, though, is impress retarded investors and advertisers. (And local PHBs.) It gives an impression of power and competence. It gives the false impression that with all that data you could do something useful (e.g., marketing), and actually turn it into money.

    So there you go. It's the golden age of dishonesty on both fronts. Dishonesty to the users, _and_ to the investors/advertisers/etc.

    --
    A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
  13. Privacy? by tomstdenis · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Since when is what files you download private? I mean is it, or is it not legal for me to post the access_log for my website publicly?

    Tom

    --
    Someday, I'll have a real sig.
  14. IE gets a free ride? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful
    THe biggest spyware of all time, IE, gets a free ride?


    The NY AG should visit http://www.fuckmicrosoft.com and learn about how MS has been the master of snoop.

  15. Re:Great - now for Passport and other violations.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    The problem here was that NS contradicted their own privacy promises, I'm not sure what you mean by "other violations. Violations of what? I would wager that Microsoft is not violating any privacy promises with Passport, Smart*, or Windows Update for that matter, because they've constructed their licenses to allow them to do whatever they want. Where are the privacy issues there? Surely you can't be thinking of US law or anything, since there is no mention of information privacy in the Constitution or anywhere else.