Alexi Friedman reports:
… The state Division of Consumer Affairs today announced a settlement with an online advertising company that agreed to pay $1 million for having circumvented consumers’ privacy settings by allowing millions of targeted ads to reach unsuspecting New Jersey web users.
State officials said the ads imbedded “cookies” into computer hard drives, essentially creating tracking devices that collected data of page views and search patterns. The unauthorized activity, which involved 215 million targeted ads and untold number of people, lasted from June 2009 to February 2012, when a Wall Street Journal article detailed similar placement of cookies by other companies.
In the case of today’s settlement with New York City-based PulsePoint, the company only targeted consumers using Apple’s Safari web browser, officials said.
Read more on NJ.com.
via @EloiseGratton