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DoubleClick pays to end privacy probe

The Net advertising company agrees to pay $450,000 and alter its policies to settle a 30-month investigation into its use of consumers' personal data.

Reuters
DoubleClick said on Monday that it agreed to pay $450,000 and alter its policies to settle a 30-month, multistate investigation into the online advertising company's use of consumers' personal data.

DoubleClick said it had agreed to make commitments on the way it shares personal data, stores personal information collected in old advertising campaigns, and discloses its privacy policy. Many of the policy agreements are limited to four years, the company said.

The agreement, which the company said does not constitute an admission of guilt, also calls on DoubleClick to retain an independent firm to review its compliance with the terms of the settlement.

The states' investigation of DoubleClick came amid concerns that online advertising companies would be able to invade the privacy of Web users by sharing data collected with Web "cookies" and other techniques.

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