Patch.com will need to live down another AOL lawsuit

[lexipixel]

AOL, the parent company of "Patch.com" which has recently made inroads into some 800 local communities is now the defendant in new class action lawsuit claiming AOL has been surreptitiously tracking consumers online and offline.

The complaint arose from an AOL customer who used a store loyalty card when paying at a computerized check-out at a local store -- she had been deleting and blocking cookies for years and found AOL had employed 3rd party Adobe Flash Local Stored Objects to track her via ads embedded in video...

Defendants commandeered Plaintiff's computer, repurposing its software and using her computer storage and her Internet connection to bypass her browser controls. Defendants created a shadow tracking system on her computer, effectively decommissioning the browser cookie controls she had explicitly set. Defendants did so repeatedly, for years, for a significant part of Plaintiff's Web-browsing, and did likewise to millions of consumers, for years.

[universalhub.com...]

(see .PDF link in article for copy of 6/28/2011 complaint obtained by UniversalHub's Adam Gaffin, a former Framingham, MA news reporter)

[wheel]

The complaint arose from an AOL customer who used a store loyalty card when paying at a computerized check-out at a local store -- she had been deleting and blocking cookies for years and found AOL had employed 3rd party Adobe Flash Local Stored Objects to track her via ads embedded in video...

Wow. That's one smart cookie.

See what i did there?

[engine]

Yeah, we got that, wheel, hehe

I'd be interested in the outcome. If proven that underhand techniques were employed, they will deserve what they get. I do wonder if the lawyers will find a small technicality along the lines of, 'by using your loyalty card agreeing that we may use the data as we see fit.'
If that's the case, it's a cop out.

[lexipixel]

This demonstrate how far AOL (and other companies) will go to obtain (and resell) customer's private data -- and that the line between "online" and "offline" consumer data are blurring.

My grocery store loyalty card saves me a lot of money, but the info I gave to get it is "not exactly up to date".

Now, if they'd use that data to tell me BEFORE I run out of toilet paper, I might update the info.

[Staffa]

I hate Adobe Flash Local Stored Objects cookies with a vengance.
Everyday I find some on my PC and delete them though they are only empty shells since I don't allow any web site to use space on my HD via Adobe Flash.
I particularly despise the sneaky way sites use LSO cookies more and more since they don't show in the browser cookies list and unless the user knows about them they will remain on their computer till it dies. Aaaarghhh

[Demaestro]

These accusations sound very similar to the accusations levelled against Sony over their rootkit.

When are some of these companies going to learn that spying on your customers is bad for business?

[lexipixel]

Possibly worse is that AOL's Patch.com has recently inked a deal with AmericanExpress to tie Patch "local deals" to AMEX payments cardholder data and Patch user registration data and interests, (in an attempt at competing with Groupon).

They might as well just skip the advertising and ship you what they think you need and bill you automatically.

[lexipixel]

to find Flash Local Stored Objects, (aka "flash cookies"), do a search of your hard drive for files with the .SOL extension.

You'll likely find Macromedia, Flash Player or similar sub-directory names listed in the path to the .SOL files it finds.

NOTE: other software may also use ".SOL" extension, so don't just delete everything without knowing what's what.