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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."

20 of 99 comments (clear)

  1. Hold on by Ian+Harris · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The settlement comes after a two-year probe, begun in 2002"

    1. Re:Hold on by paulcammish · · Score: 3, Funny
      "The settlement comes after a two-year probe, begun in 2002"

      Slashdot
      News for Nerds, Stuff that will matter.

  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 muffen · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Why do they do this??
      What's the point of saving this kind of information? Can anyone actually come up with a good reason for saving this info. I mean, really, who cares what files people download (except RIAA and MPAA that is).

      I fail to see what use AOL/Netscape will have of this info.

      In regards to the low amount of money, it was probably because they were only saving filenames. It may be personal info, but IMHO still not too bad. I mean, if they'd tell me they were collecting this, I probably wouldn't care, even if I was using Netscape.

    2. 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. Booh Netscape by Pocharngo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    As an old Netscape fan, I can only say: "Disappointed!!" Since they are one of MS:s most prominent historical "enemies", I really thought they could be trusted.

    1. 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
  4. 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
    1. Re:Netscape == sad story by mark_lybarger · · Score: 3, Informative

      um, sorry, you've got things a little mis-interpreted i believe.

      first, ns was about the only browser for linux for quite some time. even after AOL bought ns. MS never gave away IE for linux, they only released an outdated solaris version. also, MS giving away IE didn't directly kill off netscape. it was the OS bundling that killed off netscape. users didn't have to download a 10+ MB browser to install, it was already there on the pc. ISPs began to get really competitive. IIRC, it was win95 V. 2 that included IE 4.0 and that killed off netscape. prior to that netscape was still a very active browser. it was also around that time that aol bought netscape.

      after aol bought netscape, they released the source code and started the mozilla project. could mozilla (or the current netscape) have gotten to where they are today much faster? sure, but they decided a rewrite was in order. so the customers or users had to wait a little while IE was nearly the only windows browser available, and NS 4.7 was the only linux broswer available (opera , konqueror, some gnome browser and others sprung up during that time). around moz 9.0 or so, people started to really use mozilla full time. it was a free quality standards compliant browser. none of the others that sprung up during that time compare to it. ie doesn't compare to it. it's still lacking some features (really easy plugin install) but those will come.

  5. 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)

  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. Re:sooooooo 2003 :) by I+Want+GNU! · · Score: 4, Funny
    The settlement comes after a two-year probe, begun in 2002
    I didn't know we already were in 2004.
    Didn't you hear? AOL is teaming up with the RIAA to fight piracy. Those several months of heavy litigation were equivalent to two years of lighter litigation.
  8. In 2004 news... by jkrise · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Mozilla lends $100,000,000 to AOL to keep Netscape alive. Despite trying to get back in the news with a dead products after the IE steamroll, and competition from Opera and AOL-sponsored Mozilla, Netscape is failing miserably.

    Such 'settlements' are illusory and just PR stunts.

    Wired News? Or Wierd news?

    --
    If you keep throwing chairs, one day you'll break windows....
  9. 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....
  10. Who gets the $100,000? by Zog+The+Undeniable · · Score: 4, Funny

    Given the number of Netscape users these days, that should be about $25,000 each :-)

    --
    When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
  11. 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.

  12. Not as bad as it's made out to be.... by TrancePhreak · · Score: 3, Informative
    "The version of software that was reviewed has not been distributed since the fall of 2000 to consumers, and did not adversely impact users," an AOL spokesman said in a statement about the Netscape settlement.

    I wonder if anyone else RTFA... My guess is not many people who care about it are still using this version of the browser anyway.
    --

    -]Phreak Out[-
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. The Netscape Bug Bounty. by x0n · · Score: 4, Informative

    Ouch! Georgi Guninski must be feeling a little hard done by; he resolved a number of privacy problems for Netscape, but probably only got $1000 a pop.

    --

    PGP KeyId: 0x08D63965