Different websites share this browsing and buying-habit information
with each other. So as you go from site to site youmay be overwhelmed with displays of
large, pink sweaters for dogs. It is all about targeting the customer based on preferences,
and through the targeting, promoting purchases. It??™s a great example of capitalists using
new technologies to further traditional business goals.
As it happens, some people did not like this ???Big Brother??? approach and tried to sue a
company that engaged in this type of data collection. They claimed that the cookies that
PART I
Chapter 2: Ethical Hacking and the Legal System
33
Gray Hat Hacking: The Ethical Hacker??™s Handbook
34
were obtained by the company violated the Stored Communications Act, because it was
information stored on their hard drives. They also claimed that this violated the Wiretap
Law because the company intercepted the users??™ communication to other websites as
browsing was taking place. But the ECPA states that if one of the parties of the communication
authorizes these types of interceptions, then these laws have not been broken.
Since the other website vendors were allowing this specific company to gather buying
and browsing statistics, they were the party that authorized this interception of data.
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