Abacus Alliance -- an unnamed group of Internet websites that will pass on personal information to advertisers. On January 28 2000, attorneys in California filed a lawsuit alleging that DoubleClick had unlawfully represented that it was only collecting non-personally identifying information. DoubleClick also recently revealed in February that the FTC had notified the firm that it was "conducting an informal inquiry into their business practices to determine whether, in collecting and maintaining information concerning Internet users, they engaged in unfair or deceptive practices." Many of the privacy problems with the recent merger stem from the inability of the vast majority of consumers to either control the collection of information concerning Internet user behavior or the linking of profiles with real identities. These personally identified profiles are currently used for the delivery of targeted online advertising. The nature of DoubleClick's profiling will also fundamentally change the online experience for the growing number of Internet users. In the current environment, single websites collect information about their customers behavior after they have established a business to customer relationship. DoubleClick's reach and scope allows them to use information collected about you without your knowledge on any of the thousands of websites on which they operate. DoubleClick could end the presumption of anonymity that most Internet users currently enjoy.In March of 2000 DoubleClick released a statement vowing not to join online profiles to real-life identities, However, concerns about the company's tracking of Internet users have not ended. DoubleClick continues to use invisible images embedded in web pages, also referred to as "web bugs," to track users. The advertising company also continues to maintain two separate websites -- the Internet Address Finder (www.iaf.net) and the Get Away From It All Sweepstakes site (www.netdea...
