Netscape Pays $100,000 To Settle Privacy Issue

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."

Comments

Hold on

[Ian Harris]

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

Netscape == sad story

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

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 !