The Legality and Ethics of Internet Advertising SUMMARY: Recently, DoubleClick.com, one of the world's leading Internet advertising companies, was at the center of a Federal Trade Commission privacy investigation. Consumer privacy advocates have accused the company of violating the privacy of web surfers due to the aggressive means it uses to collect data for profit. This article discusses the legal and moral issues surrounding these tactics. Were the company's aggressive tactics legally permissible? Were they ethical? Companies like DoubleClick must inform the Internet user that they are being monitored. The world of the Internet uses advertising as its central driving force. Internet startups have spent millions and millions of dollars on advertising, making Internet advertising a very profitable business. In fact, the advertising market is currently estimated to be worth approximately $6.6 billion and is expected to be worth $27 billion by 2004.1 One of the industry leaders, DoubleClick.com, holds a significant market share of the industry with more than 1,500 clients. sites. The aggressive means by which DoubleClick operates has made it the advertiser of choice for many Internet companies. DoubleClick's power lies in its use of Internet "cookies" to collect information about web surfers. Each time you visit a website operated by DoubleClick, an Internet cookie is placed in your web browser. The cookie helps DoubleClick track your Internet habits and which websites you visit most often. This information is then stored in a database that is later used by DoubleClick to target consumers with ads based on the information it has about different types of users. Estimated... half of the document......m/NewWebstories/doubleclick_priv_2_23.htmNote:1 Frook, John E. "Tactics Vary in the Race for Ad Network Domination." BtoB. October 23, 2000 vol. 85:1.2 Magill, Ken. “DoubleClick: Profiling Not Dead,” iMarketing News Vol.2 No.9 (2000):1.3 IBID.4 IBID.5 “What Goes Up…(The DoubleClick Story).” Times of privacy. February 3,2000 6 "FTC Closes Investigation of DoubleClick Privacy Practices." January 22, 2001 http://www.doubleclick.net:80/us/corporate/presskit/press-releases.asp?asp_object_1=& press%5Frelease%5Fid=24897 Anstead, Mark. “The Internet: Taking a Tough Line on Privacy: New Legislation Threatens Internet Data Collection.” Marketing. April 13, 2000.8 IBID.9 Hawkins, Dana; Mannix, Margherita. Personal Technology." US News & World Report. vol. 129 No.13.10 IBID.