Global Navigation
Office of The Attorney General
The State of New Jersey Office of The Attorney General (Dept. of Law & Public Safety) The State of New Jersey NJ Home Services A to Z Departments/Agencies OAG Frequently Asked Questions
Services A to Z Departments/Agencies OAG Frequently Asked Questions
OAG Home
OAG Contact
spacer
Back to News Releases
OAG Home Attorney General's Biography
Attorney General's Biography
spacer spacer spacer
   
 
spacer spacer spacer
spacer spacer spacer
For Immediate Release: For Further Information:
November 21, 2013

Office of The Attorney General
- John J. Hoffman, Acting Attorney General
Division of Law
-
Christopher S. Porrino, Director
Division of Consumer Affairs

- Eric T. Kanefsky, Director
Media Inquiries-
Lee Moore
609-292-4791


Citizen Inquiries-

609-984-5828
spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer
 Acting Attorney General Announces Settlement Resolving Allegations Data Company Engaged in Online “History Sniffing”
Data Analytics Firm Serving Auto Industry Allegedly Tracked Consumers On-Line       
spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer
Settlement Agreement
spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer

TRENTON – Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman, the Division of Law and the Division of Consumer Affairs announced today that Dataium, a Tennessee-based data analytics company serving the automotive industry, has entered into a settlement agreement that resolves allegations it engaged in unlawful “history sniffing” by using software code to track Web sites visited by consumers without their knowledge or consent.

Under terms of the settlement, Dataium has agreed to a $400,000 payment to the State, with $99,000 to be paid over the next two years, and the $301,000 balance suspended. The suspended amount will be due immediately if Dataium fails to honor all terms of the settlement.  The suspended payment obligation will be vacated after five years if Dataium continues to comply with all settlement terms, and does not violate the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act.

In addition to the settlement’s monetary terms, Dataium is required under the agreement to create a privacy program designed to protect consumers, and to post a page or pages within its Web site informing the public about what type of consumer information it collects, and what it does with that information.

Located in Nashville, Dataium aggregates and analyzes billions of Internet-based consumer car-shopping sessions to enable its industry clients to understand consumer demands and trends. The State alleges that Dataium used JavaScript code to track Web sites visited by consumers without their knowledge. The State also alleges that Dataium sold the personal identifying information of consumers to a third-party data company known as Acxiom without notice to those consumers.   

“Whether New Jersey citizens are surfing the Web or off-line, they have a right to privacy. They also have a right to feel confident their personal identifying information is not being sold without their knowledge or consent,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “The Internet and sophisticated data collection technology are important tools, but they also can be used to take advantage of consumers. We will not allow that. We remain committed to protecting the privacy of consumers, and to holding accountable anyone whose data-collection efforts threaten that privacy.”

”Dataium allegedly used software code to track the Web sites visited by consumers without their knowledge or consent. The company also allegedly transferred the personal information of 400,000 consumers to one of the largest data brokers in the world,” said Division of Law Director Christopher S. Porrino. “Our bedrock of consumer privacy rests on notice and choice. At the very least, Dataium should have notified consumers and disclosed their data transfer practices.”

 ”Today's settlement with Dataium should serve as a warning to those who seek to unlawfully procure and sell information about consumers,” said Division of Consumer Affairs Director Eric T. Kanefsky. “Companies should provide online customers with notice as to what information they are collecting, how they use such information, and to whom they intend to sell such information. The bottom line is that consumers should be aware of who is collecting information about them when they are online and how they’re doing it, and they should have every opportunity to control what happens to that information.”

History sniffing is a technique whereby a JavaScript code is created that scans a Web site visitor’s browsing history from the Web browser. Since Web browsers display Web site links in a different color after a user visits that Web site, a “sniffer” is able to determine the Web sites visited by a user based on the color of the link. The Federal Trade Commission has found that the practice of history sniffing circumvents user choice by preventing the most common and widely known method for blocking online tracking – deleting cookies.

The State’s investigation of Dataium determined the company engaged in history sniffing for a two-year period, from November 2010 through November 2012.  Specifically, Dataium is alleged to have tracked more than 181,000 user visits to various car dealership Web sites, popular search engines and news articles and, in the process, collected the browsing history of individual browser users without their knowledge or consent. The company denies the allegation.

In addition, the State determined that Dataium had sold for $2,500 the personal identifying information of 400,000 consumers – without their knowledge or consent -- to Acxiom, one of the world’s largest data analytic companies. The information sold by Dataium to Acxiom included consumers’ names, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, Dataium IDs, and vehicle preferences. The transaction was part of a data supplier “test agreement” between the two companies, ostensibly to determine “the value of marrying online behavior from Dataium with offline behavior from Axciom.”

Among the other terms of settlement, Dataium has agreed not to collect information about Web sites visited by consumers without explicitly disclosing the manner in which it collects such information, and offering consumers a mechanism for opting out of such information collection.

Deputy Attorneys General Jah-Juin Ho, Edward Mullins and Glenn Graham, and Assistant Attorneys General Kevin Jespersen and Brian McDonough, assigned to the Division of Law’s Affirmative Civil Enforcement group, and Investigators Brian Morgenstern and Aziza Salikhov, assigned to the Division of Consumer Affairs, handled the Dataium matter on behalf of the State.

spacer
spacer spacer spacer
spacer
 
 
Contact OAG About OAG
OAG News OAG Frequently Asked Questions
OAG Library Employment
OAG Grants Proposed Rules
OAG History OAG Services A-Z
OAG Agencies / Programs / Units
Other News Pages Otras Noticias en Español Division of NJ State Police Division of Law News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Gaming Enforcement News
NJ State Police News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Elections News Division of Gaming Enforcement News Office of Government Integrity News

free PDF plugin

NJ State Police News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Elections News Division of Gaming Enforcement News Office of Government Integrity News
   
Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Legal Statement | Accessibility Statement
NJ Home Logo
Departmental: OAG Home | Contact OAG | About OAG | OAG News | OAG FAQs
Statewide: NJ Home | Services A to Z | Departments/Agencies | FAQs
Copyright © State of New Jersey
This page is maintained by OAG Communications. Comments/Questions: email or call 609-292-4925
OAG Home OAG Home NJ State Police News Governor's Office News Division of Highway Traffic Safety News Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor Juvenile Justice Commission News Division on Civil Rights News Division of Consumer Affairs News Division of Criminal Justice News Election Law Enforcement Commission Division of Elections News Division of Gaming Enforcement News Office of Government Integrity News Click to Enlarge Image Click to Enlarge Image Click to Enlarge Graphic Click to enlarge chart Click to enlarge map Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge Click to Enlarge