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Analytics Company Settles Charges For User Tracking
An anonymous reader writes "A web analytics company has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal law by using its web-tracking software that collected personal data without disclosing the extent of the information that it was collecting. The company, Compete Inc., also allegedly failed to honor promises it made to protect the personal data it collected. KISSmetrics, the developer and seller of the homonymous tool, has agreed to pay up to make the suit go away, but the the two plaintiffs will get only $5,000 each, while the rest of the money — more than half a million dollars — will go to their lawyers for legal fees."
but the the two plaintiffs will get only $5,000 each, while the rest of the money — more than half a million dollars — will go to their lawyers for legal fees."
Posted at the end of the submission.
The wired article that this is based on actually says that the two plaintiffs will have to split the $5000...bet their wishing they went to law school right now.
Justice. Seriously, they did.
Their contribution was to help pave the way for the lawsuit to disappear. Sounds like a win/win between them and the defendants. Also, the plaintiffs get a settlement. A technical win/win/win. I'm sure everyone will spend the next weekend at their winter beach houses celebrating with some fine caviar and champagne relieved to see that privacy is once again on their side.
Deltron 3030 - Virus (music video)
Or maybe Google is just finding another way to kill off the competition, using the FTC as its proxy. Lesson? Cover your tracks! Hide those hard drives...
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
Apparently the real purpose of class action suits is not compensation for the victims, but rather punishment of the guilty; if that is really the case, it makes sense that the lawyers who did the work should be the big winners. But, in my mind, that a very big "if."
In addition, the settlement bars misrepresentations about the companyâ(TM)s privacy and data security practices and requires that it implement a comprehensive information security program with independent third-party audits every two years for 20 years.
There's more to the proposed settlement than just "a little money"
That said, what judge would approve $10,000 for the plaintiffs and $500,000 for the lawyers?
That'd be completely fucked if it gets approved.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
To the tune of half a million dollars? Open your eyes, son.
The summary doesn't make it clear: these are two separate suits. From TFA:
1. Compete failed to remove personal data before transmitting it; failed to provide reasonable and appropriate data security; transmitted sensitive information from secure websites in readable text; failed to design and implement reasonable safeguards to protect consumers’ data; and failed to use readily available measures to mitigate the risk to consumers’ data. The proposed settlement order requires Compete and its clients to fully disclose the information they collect and get consumers’ express consent before they collect consumers’ data in the future, that the company delete or anonymize the use of the consumer data it already has collected, and that it provide directions to consumers for uninstalling its software. The settlement bars misrepresentations about the company’s privacy and data security practices and requires that it implement a comprehensive information security program with independent third-party audits every two years for 20 years.
2. KISSmetrics has also agreed to settle a lawsuit that charged them with using a tool that would "resuscitate" cookies deleted by privacy-minded users in order to surreptitiously track their online behavior. KISSmetrics has agreed to pay up to make the suit go away, but the two plaintiffs will get only $5,000 each, while the rest of the money - more than half a million dollars - will go to their lawyers for legal fees. The settlement does not contain an admission of guilt from KISSmetrics, but just a promise that it will not track users without their permission in the future.
It's nothing like that actually. There's two completely different lawsuits mentioned in TFA which the editor (oh. Samzenpus.) managed to compress into one when doing the summary. Compete doesn't actually have to pay a cent, but their settlement with the FTC requires them to complete third party audits every two years, immediately cease the infringing activity, delete (or anonymize) any data it already collected, and get express consent before ever collecting info again. KISSmetrics has to pay half a million dollars for developing their platform in such a way that it resurrected deleted cookies so that you couldn't escape tracking. They also didn't admit guilt, so there's nothing stopping them carrying on doing it.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
There's two completely different lawsuits mentioned in TFA which the editor (oh. Samzenpus.) managed to compress into one when doing the summary. Compete doesn't actually have to pay a cent, but their settlement with the FTC requires them to complete third party audits every two years, immediately cease the infringing activity, delete (or anonymize) any data it already collected, and get express consent before ever collecting info again. KISSmetrics has to pay half a million dollars for developing their platform in such a way that it resurrected deleted cookies so that you couldn't escape tracking. They also didn't admit guilt, so there's nothing stopping them carrying on doing it.
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".
Kissmetrics also covered here: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/10/kissmetrics-tracking/
S
http://stephan.sugarmotor.org
the slashdot and net-security.org articles are wrong, it's actually $5,000 total ($2,500 each) and $510,000 for the lawyers.
and they might not even get that: ``In the event the Court approves the Settlement, but declines to award Named Plaintiffs’ Incentive Awards in the amount requested by Settlement Class Counsel and agreed by the Parties, the Settlement will nevertheless be binding on the Parties."
what a beautiful racket.
"They were pure niggers." – Noam Chomsky
A completely free market doesn't really benefit society as a whole nearly as much as it does the strongest competitors -- who are not necessarily the best citizens. It's a special case of "might makes right" -- not, IMHO, the best basis for an economic or social system. But then, no one worries about walking through the valley of the shadow of death if they think they're the biggest, baddest motherf*cker in the valley.
Eh? I don't think I'm following. If KISSmetrics didn't admit guilt, then why are they paying at all? And if they continue to do it, can they get fined again?
It's not a fine. It's a "settlement". You know the sort - the one that keeps it out of court to avoid a precedent being set?
For a site about things like basic rights, Slashdot users sure do like to censor "dissent".