Toys"R"Us under pressure over privacy

According to the law firm of Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, Toys "R" Us has terminated its relationship with the online marketing company Coremetrics because of legal pressure relating to the Toys"R"Us online privacy code.

Consumers charged Toys"R"Us and Coremetrics with invasions of privacy, untrue and misleading advertising, and numerous violations of federal computer fraud, abuse, and wiretapping laws for the unlawful interception and disclosure of customers' personal information at its http://www.toysrus.com/ and http://www.babiesrus.com/ Web sites.

The suit, filed by Milberg Weiss, alleged Toys"R"Us falsely stated on its Web sites that it keeps customer's information "completely confidential,'' that Toys"R"Us' Web sites are "100% safe and secure,'' and that Toys R Us does "not share any personally identifying data about our guests.'' Contrary to these assurances, consumers represented by Milberg Weiss alleged that Toys"R"Us implemented a sophisticated and covert scheme to secretly track its customers and to disclose their shopping habits and purchasing information to an online marketing company, Coremetrics. 

Toys"R"Us has changed its privacy policy to disclose that Toys"R"Us may or does share information with entities outside of Toysrus.com. Consumers represented by Milberg Weiss, however, still contended the revised privacy policy failed to disclose Toys"R"Us' relationship with online marketing company Coremetrics and Toys"R"Us' unlawful disclosure of customers' personal information. In the face of continued litigation, Toys"R"Us terminated its relationship with Coremetrics. 

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08/14/00 Source Milberg Weiss William Lerach LLP