John Timmer writes:
In 2008, the social networking site Classmates.com found itself on the receiving end of a class action lawsuit that focused on its membership recruitment tactics. The company has now settled the suit via the typical mechanism: trivial discounts to the affected parties, and some hefty legal fees. But, as part of the settlement, the company will have to abide by an agreement that’s specific enough to dictate how it will set browser cookies on its members’ computers.
Classmantes.com was sued because it allegedly sent out e-mails to anyone registered for its free service, suggesting that their fellow graduates were looking to contact them—they could find out who that person was if they’d simply upgrade to one of the subscription tiers. At least two individuals did so and quickly discovered that the mystery classmate didn’t exist—nobody they knew had been looking.
Read more on Ars Technica. Note that this is not the same lawsuit reported on this site recently.