A California woman sued DoubleClick Inc. Jan. 27 in California Superior Court of Marin County, claiming that the company, which some say is the largest Internet-based ad company, is unlawfully obtaining and selling consumers’ highly private personal information (Judnick v. DoubleClick Inc., Calif. Super. Ct., Marin Cty., No. CIV 000421, filed 1/27/00).
The plaintiff, Hariett M. Judnick, alleges in the complaint that DoubleClick employs the computer-browser technology known as “cookies” — basically, packets of data that the company’s Web site transmits to and retrieves from your computer — in order to identify Internet users, track their Internet and World Wide Web use, and obtain their personal information without their consent. This personal information may include names, addresses, ages, shopping patterns, transaction histories, and general financial information from users.
