Watchdog # 1847 – Deja Statement of Finding
Investigation Results

On April 28,1999 – Richard Smith of Phar Lap Software filed a comment about Deja News' practice of logging IP addresses concurrent with click behavior on its site. Of particular concern was the logging of IP addresses in conjunction with the site's mail-to feature. This feature allows visitors to the site to email authors of various Deja News postings. Deja News' privacy statement clearly stated that it logged IP addresses and tracked user behavior.

However, TRUSTe felt that a clearer explanation of the fact that these two types of information were being collected AND linked. TRUSTe specified certain clarifying language to be included in the privacy statement. Deja News, independent of TRUSTe, then decided to discontinue the practice of tracking IP addresses in conjunction with the mail-to feature.

 

MAXAMINE