Wired: A Turning Point for E-Privacy [Doubleclick]

" 'It's an event that people will remember,' said Jason Catlett, a leading privacy advocate and president of Junkbusters. 'There will be conversations in boardrooms yet unknown saying, 'We don't want to have done to us what happened to DoubleClick.' "

"Discoveries of invasive information practices have caused companies from Microsoft to RealNetworks to modify information practices in the past. But the DoubleClick story boasted a dramatic difference: the company's stock was negatively impacted."

"...as the privacy criticism heated up and pressure increased from the government, consumer advocates, and competitors, company stock plummeted. It sunk to a low of 75 this week, down 45 points from earlier in the month. The stock experienced a 20-point loss over a three-day sequence beginning last Monday."

"Then, after the company changed course on Thursday, DoubleClick closed out the week at 97 1/8, up over 13 points from Thursday's close. Pretty dramatic bottom-line movement, marking the first time privacy-related problems dramatically affected a company's value on Wall Street."

Complete Story

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• ZDNet: Berst Alert: Here's Who Should Take a Flying Leap [Jesse Berst](Mar 01, 2000)
• VNU Net: EC bans passing consumer data to the US(Mar 01, 2000)
• VNU Net: Cookies crumble under data protection legislation(Feb 28, 2000)
• NetworkWorld: Michigan starts legal action against DoubleClick(Feb 19, 2000)