New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued Gratis Internet Thursday for selling - despite a promise of confidentiality - email addresses obtained from millions of consumers, in what may be the largest deliberate breach of Internet privacy yet, reports the Associated Press (via MediaBuyerPlanner). Consumers thought they were registering to see a site offering free iPods or DVD movies and videogames, Spitzer spokesman Brad Maione said. On sign-up pages, Gratis promised it "does not...sell/rent e-mails."
Earlier in the month, Datran Media agreed to pay a $1.1 million settlement to the New York Attorney General's office stemming from charges that Datran bought e-mail lists from Gratis that it knew to be in breach of the originating sites' privacy policies
Gratis is accused of selling access to the email information to three independent email marketers, resulting in hundreds of millions of email solicitations being sent out. A Gratis spokesman, George Thompson, said the allegations "are completely untrue."
