Netscape Settles With New York AG

Netscape will pay $100,000 as part of a settlement of complaints about a feature the company used to track what users downloaded online, said the New York Attorney General’s office.

According to wire service reports, the unit of America Online will also delete all URLs and related data it has obtained through its SmartDownload browser software and undergo privacy audits, as part of the settlement.

The settlement comes after a probe, begun last year, into Netscape’s collection and retention of information that identified files downloaded by users. This contradicted its statement to consumers that none of the information was saved.

Neither Netscape nor AOL admitted any wrongdoing as part of the settlement but separate litigation on the profiling software is reportedly still pending in Federal Court.