Trade Bodies Back comScore Over 'Class Action' Ruling

In the US, a coalition of advertising trade bodies have filed papers in support of digital audience specialist comScore, as it appeals against a decision to open a privacy case against it to class action status.

U.S. District Court Judge James Holderman had certified a class including everyone who downloaded comScore's software from a third party since 2005, along with a smaller subgroup who weren't shown a hyperlink to comScore's EULA before downloading the software. The plaintiffs' lawyer, Jay Edelson, said the class could total one million people.

The ad bodies, including the DMA, IAB, Association of National Advertisers and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, say the case, and the April decision, 'threaten to rewrite the rules of Internet commerce.' The group has filed an amicus or 'friend of the court' brief asking the court to accept comScore's appeal to the 7th Circuit.

These papers say the case is one in a long sequence which 'implicate foundational internet communication and commerce technology'. Members of the bodies 'face a groundswell of privacy class actions, such as this one, brought ... by uninjured named plaintiffs presenting uncorroborated (and often untestable) allegations that their privacy rights, and those of a massive class of allegedly 'similarly situated' individuals, have been violated.'

The writers point to comScore's 'standard-setting role in Internet commerce', and the bodies say they have been 'alarmed by the ease with which plaintiffs were allowed to suspend disbelief and obtain certification of a class challenging disclosures that plainly advise panelists' of what comScore's software would do once downloaded.

Web site: www.comscore.com .