Analytics Company Settles Charges For User Tracking

An anonymous reader writes "A web analytics company has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it violated federal law by using its web-tracking software that collected personal data without disclosing the extent of the information that it was collecting. The company, Compete Inc., also allegedly failed to honor promises it made to protect the personal data it collected. KISSmetrics, the developer and seller of the homonymous tool, has agreed to pay up to make the suit go away, but the the two plaintiffs will get only $5,000 each, while the rest of the money — more than half a million dollars — will go to their lawyers for legal fees."

And the real crime...

[macbeth66]

but the the two plaintiffs will get only $5,000 each, while the rest of the money — more than half a million dollars — will go to their lawyers for legal fees."

Posted at the end of the submission.

Re:Lawyers

[ThatsMyNick]

Justice. Seriously, they did.

Re:And the real crime...

[Anonymous Coward]

Already modded, but wanted to add something, so posting anonymously. In cases such as this, as well as class actions, lawyer fees really need to be set as a percentage, maybe 10-15%, of what the plaintiffs/class receive. This ensures both that the party causing the harm gets punished, and the part(y)(ies) that experienced the harm receive restitution as well. Because as it currently sits, these types of cases seem to be more of a welfare program for lawyers than anything else.