Case Study: DoubleClick

DoubleClick is the leading provider of solutions for advertising agencies, marketers and web publishers to plan, execute and analyze their marketing programs. DoubleClick's marketing solutions - - online advertising, search engine marketing, affiliate marketing, email marketing, database marketing, data management and marketing resource management - - help clients yield the highest return on their marketing dollar. In addition, the company's marketing analytics tools help clients to measure performance within and across channels. DoubleClick Inc. has global headquarters in New York City and maintains 22 offices around the world.

DoubleClick's tools have been under scrutiny because of the information gathering that they do unbeknownst to internet surfers. The information was said to be personally unidentifiable, but many of the tools used to track customers and their surfing patterns gather information so that DoubleClick sends the right advertisements to the righter people or target markets. Therefore many of the data collected by surf tracking software can all be linked to provide a personal profile of the surfer.

Identification of major problems:

The major problems with this case are privacy issues, not disclosing tracking mechanisms, and the deceptive business practices of DoubleClick.

Identification of possible solutions to each problem/s:

1. Privacy issues and how a company deals with maintaining privacy of site visitors is very important. Many of the privacy problems with the merger of DoubleClick and Abacus Online 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.

2. Not disclosing tracking mechanisms has been detrimental to DoubleClick because of the reach and scope of these tools. It 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.

3. Creating a reputation for deceptive business practice based upon numbers one and two has also been detrimental to DoubleClick. Not only did DoubleClick deceive consumers by claiming in multiple earlier privacy policies that information collected would remain anonymous, the company also unfairly collects and links information about Internet users without their knowledge or control. In addition to the ongoing FTC investigation, DoubleClick faces several class action lawsuits, legal action from the Michigan Attorney General's office, and an informal inquiry from the New York State Attorney General's office. CEO Kevin O'Connor released a statement that says the company made a "mistake by planning to merge names with anonymous user activity across Web sites in the absence of government and industry privacy standards.''

Recommended solution/s to each problem/s:

1. DoubleClick's privacy practices are neither an isolated incident nor will it likely be the last. Online profiling of known users is clearly invasive and should end. Online profiling of unknown users may be acceptable if there is (a) a robust technology that maintains anonymity and (b) a legal framework that supports anonymity. Without such a legal framework, there are no reassurances that profiles that are collected under the promise of anonymity will stay that way.

2. Obtain the express consent of any Internet user about whom DoubleClick intends to create a personally-identifiable record, and to develop such means as are necessary to ensure that the user has access to the complete contents of the record.

3. DoubleClick must rethink its use of technology to deliver the right ad to the right person and figure out a way to do so leaving personally identifiable information behind. Only this way will allow DoubleClick to begin recover from the deceptive image it has built from its misstatements, mergers, and surreptitious data collection methods.