Privacy groups slam DoubleClick, Abacus merger
By Aaron Pressman
WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) - Leading privacy advocates
on Monday blasted the $1 billion merger of Internet advertising
firm DoubleClick Inc. <DCLK.O> with consumer data collector
Abacus Direct Corp. <ABDR.O>, arguing that the combination
would collect far too much personal information about
consumers.
The nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center and the
privacy-oriented Web site Junkbusters
(http://www.junkbusters.com) said they would likely ask
regulators to block the deal if the companies proceeded with
the proposed merger.
Combining DoubleClick's ability to follow online surfers
around the Internet with Abacus's vast database of names,
addresses and phone numbers collected from direct mail vendors
would "severely undermine" privacy, the groups said in a letter
to the companies that was also sent to the Federal Trade
Commission and top members of Congress.
"This would represent a surveillance machine of
unprecedented breadth and depth, posing unacceptable privacy
dangers to the public," the groups added.
For example, seconds after reading a story on the Web about
personal finance, a consumer might receive a call from a
telemarketer pitching financial products.
Or, by matching public records with Internet tracking, the
birth of a child could result in diaper ads appearing on Web
sites visited by a new parent.
The information would also be available to government
investigators, lawyers involved in civil lawsuits, or even
determined computer hackers, the privacy groups noted.
"A prosecutor of the 21st century would regard Kenneth
Starr's subpoena for the book purchases of Monica Lewinsky in a
bookshop as a quaint and hopeful gesture, when thanks to your
technology he could with a single order help himself to a
comprehensive and detailed account of any individual's
behavior, online and offline," the groups said in their letter.
DoubleClick, based in New York City, is one of the top
firms that places advertising banners on Web sites and collects
information about the movements of Web surfers.
President Kevin Ryan said his company had no interest in
annoying consumers with unwanted contacts and allows anyone to
ask to be excluded from its database.
"We want to make sure the right message gets to the right
consumer," Ryan said. "We have a track record of doing things
in an incredibly responsible manner."
The firm allows consumers to prevent information from being
collected by "opting out" at
doubleclick.com
y/privacy2.htm#optout, Ryan said. DoubleClick follows the
movement of Internet surfers by depositing tracking codes,
called cookies, onto consumers' computers each time an ad that
the company placed is viewed.
The code goes into a small text file on the consumer's
computer created by Internet browsing software called a cookie
file. The code can then be read by DoubleClick when the
consumer visits another Web page or Web site carrying an ad
that the company placed.
Broomfield, Colorado-based Abacus has worked with the
direct mail industry to assemble a vast database of who buys
what and where they live.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center, based in
Washington, and the Junkbusters Web site sounded early warnings
about Intel Corp.'s <INTC.O> computer chip serial numbering
scheme and unique identification numbers placed in computer
files by Microsoft Corp. <MSFT.O> software.
REUTERS
Rtr 15:28 06-21-99 |
