Fair use etc

http://www.newsbytes.com/pubNews/00/145310.html Intuit Sued For Alleged Data Disclosure By Martin Stone, Newsbytes NEW YORK, NEW YORK, U.S.A., 09 Mar 2000, 6:46 AM CST The world's largest maker of personal finance software, Intuit Inc. [NASDAQ:INTU], reportedly faces a lawsuit brought by a user of its popular Quicken.com site, who alleged that the company disclosed personal information to advertisers. A Reuters report today said the suit was filed Wednesday in Manhattan federal court and seeks class action status on behalf of other users of the Quicken.com site who may have had their privacy violated. The report identified the plaintiff as Joseph Rubin, who contended he had used the site for over a year and that his confidential information had been transmitted to third parties without his consent. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and a purging of all personal information collected or shared as a result of the alleged wrongdoing, the report said. Intuit, based in Mountain View, Calif., makes the QuickBooks accounting software for small businesses; Quicken, a leading personal financial software package; and TurboTax, a widely-used tax preparation program. The Quicken.com site provides financial services, including a program that allows consumers to track and pay bills and prepare and file their taxes. The legal action alleged that Intuit fails to disclose to consumers that Quicken.com contains a "secret information-harvesting capacity" that "works as a window into the Internet user's activities," providing advertisers with the users' names, addresses and confidential financial information, the report said. Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com . 06:46 CST Reposted 09:01 CST (20000309/WIRES TOP, ONLINE, LEGAL, BUSINESS/DATASEC/PHOTO)

-- mike in houston (mmorris67@hotmail.com), March 13, 2000