News

McDonald’s accused of violating privacy

December 29, 2010

McDonald’s is one of four companies accused of using their Internet ads to mine for consumer data, including websites visited, and ultimately invading the privacy of those consumers.

According to Courthouse News, a class action suit in Federal Court, led by plaintiff Sonal Bose of New York City, claims that “Defendants acted in concert with (nonparty) Interclick, mining consumers' web browser histories for entries of particular relevance to defendants' respective, customized advertising campaigns.”

Bose accuses McDonald’s of violating computer privacy laws through its online World Cup-theme game during the summer of 2010.

Other companies listed include CBS, Mazda and Microsoft. All four companies worked with Interclick during their respective promotions.

The complaint accuses Interclick of specializing in “behavior advertising,” a method used to track individuals’ web-browsing habits to determine which ads to display to each consumer.

Interclick constantly updates its database of consumer profiles with information acquired from online advertising campaigns, the claim said, adding that it has maintained these profiles since June 2007.

The class further claims that the defendants and Interclick "used browser history sniffing to identify defendants' competitors with whom consumers communicated … all the consumer information Interclick acquired while executing an ad campaign for any one defendant was merged into Interclick's consumer profile database and subsequently used for behavioral targeting on behalf of all defendants."

Bose is seeking statutory and class damages for computer fraud and abuse, violations of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and of state business law, trespassing of personal property, breach of implied contract and interference with contract. She also is asking that all personal data collected through this method be deleted, and that the companies named be prohibited from using these mining tactics again.