Here’s something your Internet lawyer probably doesn’t see every day. A California federal judge threw out of court a class-action privacy lawsuit filed against an ad network.
Why was the case tossed?
The judge couldn’t see how the plaintiffs could show they were harmed by the Adobe Flash tracking cookies installed on their computers.
To be sure, these flash cookies are harder to stop and remove than traditional tracking cookies. But that doesn’t mean one can play litigation lotto by filing a lawsuit about it without having actually been damaged. (If you think you’ve been injured, of course, talk it over with an Internet lawyer who litigates.)
The lawyer who filed the case is threatening to re-file it. In most of these class action shakedowns, the law firm makes a bundle and the “injured” parties get something cheesy like a coupon for their next purchase of one of the defendant’s products.
But you have to wonder who really won when this case got tossed? The defendant had to pay a large law firm big moolah to represent it in court.
Wouldn’t it have been better for everyone (except the lawyers) if the use of cookies of any type was clearly disclosed to website visitors so they’d be less likely to sue in the first place?
Just because something’s legal to do doesn’t make it right…nor is it a good business decision to play “hide the tracking cookie” either.
To your online success!
-Mike the Internet Lawyer
