FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

August 26, 2002

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Genene Morris (973)504-6327

NEWARK - DoubleClick, the nation's leading Internet advertising service, has entered into an agreement with New Jersey and nine other states to comply with a set of standards that will govern the New York company's collection, use and disclosure of data on Internet consumers, Attorney General David Samson and Consumer Affairs Director Reni Erdos announced today.

The multi-state agreement stems from a 30-month investigation into DoubleClick's privacy practices. The investigation focused on the company's statements regarding its use of "cookies" to gather information about Web-surfing consumers. As part of the agreement, DoubleClick will pay the states $450,000 to cover the states' investigative costs and consumer education initiatives.

"The states investigation came about in 2000 when DoubleClick announced that it intended to build personally identified consumer profiles to use in targeting online advertisements. Such profiles could potentially link tracking data already in its possession, thereby compromising consumers' anonymity," Attorney General Samson said.

"The states were concerned that DoubleClick's plans violated its own privacy policy which had assured people that it would maintain anonymity in its consumer-tracking logs," Erdos said. "Today's agreement resolves those concerns and puts guidelines in place to protect online consumers who are subject to tracking by DoubleClick."

DoubleClick cooperated with the states' inquiries. The company has not made any admissions of liability and denies any wrongdoing.

DoubleClick, which is headquartered at 450 West 33rd St., New York, uses "cookies" to collect consumer data as it displays Web-page banner advertisements and provides other e-commerce technology services as a contractor to Web sites. Through DoubleClick's widespread network of Web site clients, consumers are almost inevitably tagged by DoubleClick "cookies."

Under the terms of the agreement, DoubleClick will not use consumers "personally identifiable information" such as name, address, telephone number, e-mail address, social security number, bank account number or credit card number - in providing Web advertisements. The agreement also requires the company to boost the visibility of its anonymous consumer-tracking activities. DoubleClick is working on a cookie viewer that will allow a consumer to see the profiled interest categories DoubleClick uses in selecting advertisements for that consumer.

To protect online consumers, DoubleClick will compile customer information about consumers' online activities only pursuant to a contract that requires a Web site client to post a privacy policy that clearly and conspicuously discloses:

• the type of information DoubleClick does or does not collect or the type of information the Web site can cause to be transmitted to DoubleClick;
  
  
• DoubleClick's use of the information gathered;
  
  
• the means by which the consumer can opt out of such data use by DoubleClick; and
  
  
• the means by which the consumer can access DoubleClick's privacy disclosures.

Also as part of the agreement, DoubleClick will:

• review and comply with its clients' privacy policies and conduct a periodic review of the each of the policies to ensure continued compliance;
  
  
• take reasonable measures to avoid acquiring personally identifiable information inadvertently transmitted by a Web site;
  
  
• for a four-year period, undertake reasonable efforts to educate its clients in technical and business practices to promote online consumers' privacy; and
  
  
• employ reasonable technical and employee education procedures and mechanisms to safeguard the security and integrity of online consumers' information against inadvertent corruption, loss or disclosure.

DoubleClick will also undergo three independent reviews over the next four years to assess how the company measures up to its own privacy policy and its agreement with the states. Consumers will be able to see the results which will be posted in DoubleClick's privacy policy.

When DoubleClick changes its own privacy policy regarding future data collection, consumers will be given an opportunity to receive an e-mail alert by subscribing to a notification service. The e-mail address can be used for no other purpose without the consumers' explicit permission.

In addition to New Jersey, the following states participated in the multi-state agreement: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Vermont and Washington.

Deputy Attorney General Ginger R. Provost of the Division of Law handled this matter for the New Jersey.